Lewsiboro Supervisor updates board on relocation of town offices

The former Lewisboro Elementary School, which has housed some town offices and the police department is being shuttered.

By NEAL RENTZ

Lewisboro Town Supervisor Tony Gonçalves gave the Town Board an update on the planned movement of some town offices, including the police department, from the campus of a former elementary school to new locations. 

The Police Department and some other town government offices are currently housed on the campus of the former Lewisboro Elementary School on a month-to-month rental basis from the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, since July 2023.

The new police headquarters would be located on the property that has the New York State Police outpost and the town Highway Department, 81 Spring St., South Salem.

KG+D Architects is employed by the town to serve as the police headquarters architects.

Gonçalves said the septic system design proposal for the new police headquarters has been submitted to the Westchester County Department of Health.

“That’s going to take some time,” before the plan’s potential approval, he said. 

The geotechnical work of taking bore samples of the ground where the police headquarters would be constructed is completed, Goncalves said. The architect recently met with police officials to review the design, he said.

“The current position of the school district requires us to move out by Aug. 31, 2026, but since we do not have an optional location for the Police Department I have requested that the police department  be allowed to remain in the modular structure they are currently in at LES while we proceed with the new police department building project which is in its early stages,” Gonçalves told The Recorder in a follow-up interview. (See related story on Page 1)

The only other option for the town would be to erect a temporary structure on town property that would have to be outfitted with all the requirements of a police station, Gonçalves said. 

At the meeting, Gonçalves also discussed the movement of some town offices from the former elementary school to the office building located at 892 Route 35 in Cross River, which it purchased last year. The building consists of three floors of offices, including an office for a physical therapist.  

Gonçalves said the Planning Department, the Building Department, the Assessor’s Office and the Zoning Department are scheduled to move to the second floor of the office building, which has been furnished, soon.

“It looks wonderful,” he said. 

The town is also going to do construction work to expand the first floor of the building to house the Town Court, Gonçalves said.

The town is seeking to complete the first-floor courthouse work by July and have town employees move into the building in August, Gonçalves said. 

“If we can move in sooner, love to,” he said.