New Castle Basketball Court, Playground Work Likely for September
Construction of New Castle’s new playground and basketball court behind Town Hall is expected to start in September after town officials needed to remove extra items in the project to stay within budget.
Last week Town Administrator Jill Shapiro said that officials asked for the engineer to return with a couple of alternative designs before the project goes out to bid. What had been a projected cost estimate of $500,000 to $600,000, with $250,000 in state grants had ballooned to more than $1 million, she said.
Suggestions to regrade the rear parking lot to help make the ground level was estimated at $300,000 and installing a sidewalk from Recreation Field to the court and playground helped drive up the cost. Those will be among the items that are scrapped, Shapiro said.
“It will push the release of the RFP back for another month or so but we still believe we can stay on target to be able to break ground on this and proceed at least as of Sept. 1,” Shapiro said.
Despite the changes that need to be made, the town would have been unable to start the project much earlier. Shapiro said that the rear Town Hall parking lot, a portion of which will be the new court’s home, continues to be used by crews to hold equipment related to the downtown infrastructure and streetscape project. That is scheduled to be finished this summer.
The basketball court and playground are expected to take about three months to complete, which should ensure that work is completed before the start of winter, officials said. While not ideal timing, since the public would not be able to use the new facility until next spring, it will be available for residents for years to come.
“Considering how long we wanted a basketball court, what’s another couple of months?” Supervisor Robert Greenstein said.
The 84-by-50-foot court will be located in the back corner of the lot near Recreation Field.
Shapiro said installation of the lights to illuminate the court for nighttime play is expected to cost about $75,000 but is likely to be pushed back until next year. The town will make sure to include the electrical conduits this year so the lights can be connected when they are available, she said.
In addition to the work that is planned for the court and the new playground, additional parking will be added to the front parking lot at Town Hall to offset the loss of spaces in the back, Shapiro said.
Currently, the only basketball courts in New Castle are on Chappaqua School District property. While the public can play at the Robert E. Bell Middle School parking lot when school is out of session, those are for half-court games.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
