BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

CANTON — The school district’s proposed $24 million capital project has been described as a “domino project” by Canton Central School Superintendent Ronald P. Burke because renovating one area of the school impacts a separate part of the school.

Burke said voters will be asked to approve Proposition 1 on May 19. Major items include new parking lots and a new regulation-size soccer and lacrosse field behind the middle school so the existing soccer field can be converted into more parking.

District voters will also be asked to approve Proposition 2, which calls for a turf field with lighting. The cost of that project is $1 million and would be fully funded by taxpayers.

Also included is a new high school/middle school cafeteria and a new swimming pool and fitness center, both open to the community with a “YMCA feel,” he said.

Proposition 2 provides voters with the opportunity to decide if the new multi-purpose athletic field shall have artificial turf and lighting. This cost will not be eligible for state building aid due to the maximum cost allowance for exterior work having been met in Proposition I.

“We have heard many requests from the community for an artificial turf field, as many of our neighboring districts have turf rather than grass, ” Burke said. “We want to be as transparent as possible with the community about this since it will represent an added cost should this proposition pass. We want to put the decision in the hands of the community and allow them to delineate between the safety and infrastructure aspects of the proposed project and the potential for the upgraded athletic space.”

The district plans to offer community forums in the coming weeks to invite input from voters prior to the referendum in May.

Office, classroom changes

The project calls for moving the elementary office area to space near the middle school ramp. This would create a single point of entry for the two schools.

This change would allow the school to get rid of its camera system for daytime visitors and gives main office workers the chance to see people face-to-face prior to them having access to the entire building, Burke said. Currently, visitors enter into the main school once doors are unlocked following the camera-system checkpoint. Following the project, visitors would enter a separate room where they can speak with office personnel prior to being allowed into the entire building.

All of these changes improve security, he said.

The space created by moving the elementary office, which is near Burke’s office, would be filled by relocating the music room there. “I’ll be a happy camper getting to listen to our elementary musicians,” Burke said.

The middle school and high school cafeterias would be consolidated, along with a new kitchen, to space where the middle school cafeteria and gymnasium are.

This would result in the middle school gym being moved to the current pool location. The pool would be relocated to the area where high school locker rooms and the HS athletic offices are now.

The athletic offices and locker rooms would move to the CTE classrooms across from the HS gym.

The current HS cafeteria would be transformed into CTE classroom and lab space.

Swimming Pool, fitness center

The cost of a new pool is $3.7 million. Burke said needed repairs for the existing 50-year old pool, including for major leaking, could reach $1 million.

The school will spend $200,000 to replace a filter in its current pool, which can then be used in the new pool.

He said the district has made numerous repairs lately and that the leaking is causing potential danger to a nearby electrical box. He said if something were to happen and the box were to be compromised, the school could be forced to shut down for weeks or even months.

Changing location of the pool will be a major change to the identity of the district, Burke said. However, it is one that is needed, he said.

“This is the smartest move we can make,” Burke said.

The school plans to host an event where the public can come see the school to see for themselves the shape the pool and other areas of the school are in.

Burke said he wanted to allow people to see that they are “as bad as advertised.”

The school also plans to upgrade its fitness center, which would be open to the public.

“The public owns the school,” Burke said about why the school is offering public access.

It has not been determined the days open, hours or how staffing would work. But Burke said as a safety precaution, there would be no free-weights. This will allow people to lift heavier weights without a spotter.

Parking problems

Burke said that in the fall there is typically enough parking space during the school day, but as more and more students get their driver’s licenses, the space becomes more limited as the school years wear on.

Also, parking is a major issue during sporting events, concerts and other evening events at the school. “We have people parking on State Street, which you’re not supposed to, and parking on the grass … because there is nowhere else to park,” Burke said.

A study showed that turning the soccer field into parking would make the most sense because it is near where most visitors would enter for night events. The new parking lot would add about 100 parking spaces, and should help alleviate traffic congestion which is a major issue.

The existing parking lots will be reconstructed as well.

He did not expect taxpayers to balk at parking upgrades, as they are an “obvious” issue, he said.

A parking study conducted a few years ago looked at a number of options for additional parking and identified the soccer field as the best option due to size, location, and most importantly, pedestrian safety.

“Upon reviewing the study, I was initially strongly opposed to the move of the soccer field. In part, this was due to my sentimental attachment to the current field and to Mr. Dusharm, for whom the field is named,” said Burke. “However, in learning that the current athletic field is not regulation size for either soccer or lacrosse, and after carefully reviewing the parking study, it became increasingly clear that this is the most viable option for addressing the parking issue.”

Athletic field

Voters will decide if the proposed multi-purpose athletic field will have artificial turf and lighting, or natural grass.

Turf and lighting, which will be voted on as Proposition 2, would cost $1 million, and is separate from the proposed $24 million capital project.

The cost for the turf is about $550,000 and $400-450,000 for the lights. The turf field is not eligible for state building aid.

If voters decide against an artificial turf field, the school will go ahead with a natural grass field that would be where the turf field would go, near the middle school.

The new field would be used for soccer, lacrosse and potentially football. Burke said the current soccer field is not regulation size. This partially prohibits the school from hosting Section 10 or state playoff games.

Adding turf instead of natural grass would also allow for athletic seasons to start earlier and go later into the season.

Other projects, timetable

Sewer lines will be replaced as part of the project. The district has received help from the village in dealing with clogs and other issues in the lines, which Burke believes to be the original lines from the 1950s.

New sewer lines would “eliminate problems down the road,” he said. “It’s not a big ticket item, but important.”

Other items include reconstructing the bus garage asphalt driveway, installing bus block heaters and replacing the bus garage heating and ventilation system.

The capital project will also upgrade some deteriorating sidewalks, remove of an oil tank, and upgrade elevators.

The architects for the project are King and King, based in Syracuse. Once the project is approved, they will fine-tune the details before the project is presented to the Stated Education Department or a third-party for review.

A third-party firm does the legwork for SED, but speeds up the process for project approval, Burke said. The plan is for the design work to be complete by December with the approval process beginning in January 2021.

“You want bids to go out at a certain time of year,” he said. Once bids are accepted, Burke hopes that some construction can begin in November 2021, with the project completed in late 2022.

Burke said the project would put the district in a good place for the next 25 to 30 years.