Discussion of Proposed Boarding High School Continues in Somers
By Neal Rentz
The processing of reviewing the proposal for a private boarding high school on the 723-acre site that formerly housed IBM continued at the August 8 Somers Town Board meeting.
The plan is being proposed by Evergreen Ridge LLC for property owned by 294 Route 100 LLC. A name for the proposed school has not yet been finalized.
The academy would be in IBM’s five interconnected buildings, totaling 1.2 million square feet. The interiors of the existing buildings would be renovated and the proposal calls for the creation of several other facilities, including an arts center, an athletic center, dormitories, a home for the head administrator of the school, several athletic fields, jogging and hiking trails and gardens.
Though the school would be for high school students in grades nine through 12, the school would open in the fall of 2021, with the 11th grade added in 2022 and the 12th grade would be added in 2023.
The school would prepare students for such fields as biomedical engineering and physics, artificial intelligence, computer science and information technology, robotics, aerospace and manufacturing technology. The maximum student enrolment would be 1,800.
About 85 percent of the students would live on campus, with the rest being day students. The school would provide instruction in the STEAM subjects of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and the arts. There would be an estimated 750 students on campus in 2021 and the number of students would rise every year until hitting the maximum of 1,800 students in about 2023. There would ultimately be 125 teachers and administrators and a 110-person support staff.
The annual cost for each boarding student would be $49,000 per school year and $37,000 for day students.
Mark Weingarten, an attorney representing the developers, said among the approvals required for the project would be amendments to the town’s zoning ordinance from the Town Board for the portion of the land that would be developed. The land is currently zoned Office Business, he noted.
Weingarten said there are no other development plans for the property. Architect Erik Kaeyer, vice president of Kaeyer, Garment and Davidson Architects, told the Town Board last week there are currently 3,200 parking spaces on the site. The proposal calls for the number of parking spaces to be reduced to between 1,000 and 1,100, he said.
The project calls for call for “about a 19 percent decrease in impervious surfaces on the campus,” Kaeyer said.
While most of the plans for the site would be reuse of the vacant buildings currently on the property, Kaeyer said the project does call for the construction of a 28,000-square-foot field house for athletics. The project also includes plans for nine natural turf athletic fields and one synthetic turf field.
Tim DiScipio, founder of Evergreen Ride, said the school’s offerings would include core curriculum subjects and Advanced Placement courses. The school is in the process of seeking to meet state Education Department requirements, DiScipio said.
This fall representatives of the proposed school will provide a report to the Town Board about the educational programs the school will offer, DiScipio said. A date for the meeting has not been determined.
Town Director of Planning Syrette Dym said the applicant’s project assessment report was submitted to the town in June and it is being reviewed by town officials. “A comprehensive review” of the project is being done by town staff, she said. The town is in the process of determining if all of the questions have been answered by the applicant, she said.
Resident Mark Copel said he supported the concept of the proposed high school. Copel said he did not want “a large amount of lighting” coming off the playing fields being proposed. “There’s not a lot of lighting” and there should be no negative impact of any lighting on the neighboring area, Weingarten said. “Only three of the fields have lighting,” he said.
Kaeyer said a lighting plan will be submitted to the town, which will include a provision to replace current lights with LEDs.
Michael Barnhart, chairman of the Open Space Committee, said he wanted the natural life of the campus to be protected if the project was approved. There may be species on the land that would need to be conserved, he said.
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