New home slated for Lewisboro town offices

Town will buy building on Route 35 for $2.2 million

By NEAL RENTZ

CORRECTED ARTICLE

Some Lewisboro department offices will soon have a new home.

The town has entered into an agreement with Old Post Road Professional Building and Annex Inc. to purchase the building located at 892 Route 35, Cross River. 

Supervisor Tony Gonçalves announced the purchase agreement at the May 27 town board meeting. 

The town is currently renting space from the Katonah-Lewisboro School District at the former Lewisboro Elementary School.

The decision to purchase the three-story building came during the public meeting, which followed the May 18 executive (closed) session earlier in the night. According to the minutes of the meeting, the $2,222,500 purchase was approved by a 3-1 vote. Gonçalves, Councilman Dan Welsh and Councilwoman Mary Shah voted to approve the purchase. Councilman Richard Sklarin voted “no” and Councilwoman Andrea Rendo recused herself from the vote. 

Sklarin made a motion to authorize the board to enter entry into a contract for the purchase price of $2 million, but the motion was not seconded. 

“We will close on the purchase of the building at the end of June or early July,” Gonçalves said this week. 

Gonçalves said the building, planning, zoning and assessor’s offices will move to the new building and the town is considering moving other offices to the new location in the next phase of the project. 

The town has yet to schedule a date when the offices will be moved, but the town board is targeting late summer, Gonçalves said. 

The building consists of three floors of offices, including an office for a physical therapist.  

Gonçalves explained why he favored purchasing the Route 35 building. 

“This was the only for-purchase building available with office space and in move-in condition.” Other critical points in favor of buying the building included its Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, its elevator and its location in the center of town, he said. 

The town board needs to decide how to fund the purchase. 

“The funding will most likely be a combination of money from our fund balance and a BAN (Bond Anticipation Note). The 10 percent escrow deposit came out of the fund balance,” Gonçalves said. “This purchase was the most fiscally responsible option for the town and its taxpayers.”

The supervisor said Friday there are no current plans to move the town court or police department to the new building.

Security cameras

Also at this week’s meeting, the town board voted unanimously to support the request from Recreation Supervisor Nicole Caviola and Police Chief David Alfano to go out to bid for security cameras and license plate readers that would be placed at the town parks, outside the highway department building and at the salt dome. 

“Since early December I have had quite a bit of vandalism on my fields,” Caviola said. In April, a recycling can was set on fire at Fox Valley and a vehicle drove onto the field at Vista, she noted.

Following each incident, she called the police department, which would look into the incidents, but could not come up with any leads into who was responsible, Caviola said. She has taken funds from her department’s budget to repair the fields and replace items, Caviola said.

A few weeks ago, Caviola said, she contacted Alfano and told him that she understood that a few years ago he was interested in the purchase of security cameras and license plate readers. 

“We started putting chains up and blocking as much as we can so individuals cannot drive on the fields, but they still find a way,” Caviola said. 

Sklarin asked what the total cost of all the vandalism incidents totalled. Recent vandalism incidents at the parks have cost a total of about $5,000, Caviola said.

Cameras are a crime deterrent, Gonçalves said.

Alfano said sex crimes and dog bites have gone undetected without cameras. 

The town will post “under surveillance” signs to accompany the security cameras. 

Caviola said she would go out to bid for the cameras and license plate readers, working with Alfano.

Elementary school water

Also during the meeting, Gonçalves said the Westchester County Department of Health has approved plans for water supply improvements for treating PFAS and uranium at the Meadow Pond Elementary School. “This is a good thing,” he said. “They are getting the appropriate water treatment system that is needed at that school.”

The Katonah-Lewisboro School District will pay for the project, Gonçalves said. The estimated cost is $425,000. 

Senior group contract 

The board voted unanimously to extend its contract with Stevens Memorial United Methodist Church for the use of the town’s senior adult meetings.

The contract will run from June 1 through Dec. 31, at a cost of $3,900. Gonçalves said the church is charging the town an additional $50 per meeting. 

For the past six months the town has not had a renewed contract lease with the church, Caviola noted. The cost of electricity used during the meetings and the cost of setting up the space for the meetings and cleaning up following the meetings have gone up, she said.