Town offices to move in April, police given longer

By NEAL RENTZ

The Katonah-Lewisboro School District is allowing the Lewisboro Police Department to remain on the campus of the former Lewisboro Elementary School past the September deadline for other town offices to leave.

Supervisor Tony Gonçalves told the Town Board on Jan. 12 that he met earlier that day with Katonah-Lewisboro Superintendent of Schools Ray Blanch, and that town offices and the town court now have until September to move out of the former school, but the police department can stay on a rental arrangement past that.

“That’s what I’ve been requesting,” he said. 

Last year, the Town Board was presented with a proposal from KG+D Architects to build a new police headquarters on the property located at 81 Spring St., South Salem, which now houses the state police headquarters and the Highway Department. 

The new 10,000-square-foot police headquarters would have a roughly 5,000 square-foot first floor and an approximately 5,000-square-foot basement with a two-bay garage, which would be used by police officers to bring those arrested into the building.

The Westchester County Department of Health recently approved the site for a septic system and leach field, Gonçalves said.

The town is working to transfer town offices other than the police department from the former school to the second floor of the Old Post Road Professional Building and Annex, located at 892 Route 35, Cross River. The building was purchased by the town last year for $2.2 million.

“We’re working with an office design company,” Gonçalves said, adding he is expecting to receive proposals for office designs and office furniture later in the week.

Gonçalves said he hoped the movement of the offices from the former school would begin in April.

The town court would move to the first floor of the office building if the design is approved by the state, Gonçalves said.

No changes are being considered for the third floor. “We’re leaving it as it is as of now,” Gonçalves said.

Sidewalks grant sought

Also at this week’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to submit an application for a New York State Department of Transportation for a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant for sidewalks, crosswalks and safety signaling for Cross River. 

The Town Board voted unanimously to hire AKRF at a cost of up to $5,000 to submit and administer the grant application.

“They’re very familiar with these and they have a very good track record at winning these grants,” Gonçalves said.

The grant would require a 20% match by the town, Gonçalves noted. The grant limit is $7 million, he said.

He spoke with a construction firm recently which told him the Cross River project construction cost would be $715,000, Gonçalves said.