By THANE GRAUEL
Day campers and their parents should see some new and larger facilities this coming summer.
The town board on Tuesday gave final approval for a project that will add a pavilion and replace the camp office/nurses station and a storage building. The action came through approval of two purchase orders.
One, for $125,000, is to use grant money for a new Town Park shelter. The total cost is $196,118.
The other, for $4,149, is for a new 8-foot-by-8-foot storage shed and $9,925 for a new 10-foot-by-20-camp office. The money will come from the 2025 town budget.
The new shelter is considerably larger, 25 feet by 42 feet. It will be in addition to the existing 25-foot-by-25-foot pavilion.
The new office building would be across the road from the existing structure. Unlike the existing structure, it would have separate entrances from the office and nurse’s station. It should be recognizable to kids because the new building will be the same shade of green as the old one.
The Recreation and Parks Department runs day camps for children of various ages from late June to early August.
“As you know, part of plans for next year is that they want to get a new shelter purchased and installed before camp season,” Town Supervisor Kevin Hansan told the board. “So I think they’re coming to us to see if we’re ready to issue a purchase order.”
Recreation Supervisor Andrea Russo presented the request to the town board.
“Yes, we’re going much larger as our camp season and community is expanding,” Russo said of the 25-by-42 structure. “We felt that we need to go bigger.”
“This shelter is not going to be provided with walls, that’s maybe something in the future, but as of right now it will provide the shelter that we need for our campers, for our community, in the event of any bad weather.”
The new shelter, like the existing one, will have electricity. That hookup will be done by the town electrician, Russo said.
The site of the new pavilion will be to the right of the pool entrance, where some larger swings Russo called the “teenage swings” currently are.
A board member asked where those swings would be relocated, and Russo said they didn’t know yet.
The board’s vote to approve the purchase orders was unanimous.