Engineers, architects present details on potential $17 million referendum in Verona

With the clock ticking on a timeframe to put together a $17 million referendum, four officials appeared in front of the Verona Board of Education to shed some light on what goes into creating the project at the Tuesday, Oct. 22 meeting.

JOSHUA JONGSMA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Plans for the Thomas J. Sellitto Field at Verona High School stand in front of the crowd at the Tuesday, Oct. 22 board of education meeting.

A set of architects and engineers from Mylan Architectural Group and EI Associates broke the proposal into three main categories: security fixes, an addition to the music room at the high school and the renovations to the Thomas J. Sellitto Field.

Kurt Schmitt, the senior architect for Mylan Architectural, flipped through a slideshow in front of the audience with the different improvements they plan to make. Schmitt said Verona High School will receive most of the work compared to the other five schools.

The currently closed football field will be remediated by dynamically compacting the area, which fills in underground holes, and placing a cap over affected areas so it can be used by the public. Rob Walsh, engineer for EI Associates, said the other options were to close the ground entirely, which he was not sure would even be allowed by the Department of Environmental Protection, or to dig everything out and ship it off site, which would prove expensive.

The potential final result will feature a turf field capable of being used for multiple sports, plus new bleachers on both sides. The construction will continue to the tennis courts, with the addition of a fifth spot. The expansion would allow a typical high school match to let the entire lineup play at once, compared to the current format which only has enough room for four of the five matches to compete at a time. The parking lot would also see an increase of 38 more spots.

As far as the security, many of the doors will be replaced with new cameras and locking mechanisms. VHS will need 19 openings, which includes single or double doors, the most of any school, with the middle and elementary buildings all requiring between four and eight.

Some of the other security changes include repositioning cameras to provide a better view and potential swipe cards, but some board members hoped to hear more about that and technology aspects of the referendum. Board of Education President John Quattrocchi requested to have a similar presentation from Promedia Technology Services on that portion of the funds, while the engineers and architects will also return to answer additional questions in November.

Quattrocchi and Board Member Joe Bellino grilled the speakers about furthering the security measures, such as if there would be alarms when a door is opened from the inside, or how many cameras there would be, and hope to find additional answers during future presentations. Dennis Mylan, the principal architect of the company that shares his name, said the main goal for the security is to delay access to the buildings so visitors can be properly identified, rather than completely prevent entry. The engineer said a school would need to be redesigned "like a fort" to expand safety that far.

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Engineers, architects present details on potential $17 million referendum in Verona