Wilton Board of Education members heard a general overview Thursday night, May 23, on how the district’s architectural consultant suggests he would prioritize multi-million dollar repairs to three of the four school buildings that are in need.
Barring state grant reimbursement, Wilton has an estimated cost of $132.1 million before it to make a wide range of repairs, updates and improvements to Cider Mill School, Middlebrook School, and Wilton High School, according to Erik Kaeyer, principal architect with KG+D architects, a Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based firm that conducted an extensive overview of the facilities.
“These buildings are very well maintained … It has nothing to do with the fact that we’re not maintaining our buildings … Things wear out. They have life spans,” he said.
Breaking the needs into three levels of priority, Kaeyer said there was about $10.4 million needed for what he described as Priority 1 items, which he said relate to “life safety” and should be addressed within two years. These include various site work issues, including damaged sidewalks and drainage issues at Cider Mill, repair of a storm line at Middlebrook, and only some incidental plumbing at the high school expected to just cost $41,000.
Middlebrook’s Priority 1 items total $6.2 million and also include replacement of the gym roof, HVAC systems, sprinkler heads and distribution piping, smoke detectors, and both sidewalks and exterior repairs that include doors and windows.
Cider Mill’s Priority 1 items total $4.1 million and also include plumbing, HVAC and electrical work that includes circuit breakers and surge protection, as well as exterior masonry repair.
“Health and life safety is a very high priority,” Kaeyer said, noting that Priority 2 items center on both health and safety or property damage.
There are a total of $77.6 million in Priority 2 items, including $12.2 million at Cider Mill, $21.2 million at Middlebrook, and $44.3 million at the high school, all of which Kaeyer said should be completed in the next two to six years.
“Remarkably, if and when you do that project, this high school can look completely different because so much of it visually is associated with metal siding and windows,” he said, with other Priority 2 items there including roof replacement, electrical work, doors, asphalt pavement and sidewalk repair.
Kaeyer described Priority 3 items as being age-related or required for new codes. These, he said, should be done within six to 10 years, including $14.9 million worth of work at Cider Mill, $6.3 million at Middlebrook, and $22.9 million at the high school, for a total of $44.1 million.
He said that a cursory look was given to Miller-Driscoll School, but as a $42.3-million project was completed there just six or seven years ago, it was in sound condition, in full code compliance.
While Kaeyer said there was a safety recommendation for some minor roof access changes, “otherwise the building is in good shape.”
Cider Mill, which was built in 1949, saw an addition in 1956, and then another in 1998.
“After 26 years you’re going to start to see some thing that are wearing out,” he said, noting that not even everything was addressed in the last major overhaul.
Middlebrook was built in 1961, with additions done in 1987, 1992, and 1998, along with some renovation work in 2013.
“Middlebrook is an old school,” he said, with the building envelope requiring extensive work.
“There’s a lot of T.L.C. that should happen to that school to bring it up to what we would all consider a school in excellent condition,” he said, including a new roof, doors, windows and more.
The high school was built in 1970, with an addition coming in 2000 and some renovation work following in both 2008 and 2013.
Kaeyer’s numbers take inflation and escalation of costs into account, he said, with the Priority 1 total cost of $10.4 million based on 2024 approval, the Priority 2 total cost of $77.6 million based on 2025 approval, and Priority 3 total cost of $44.1 million based on 2031 approval.
“We built that in because we know you’re not doing these projects next month,” he said, citing a 4% annual increase built in to parallel annual rising costs.
He said the numbers were all-inclusive and contained planning, professional feeds, construction, testing, inspection and a contingency.
“Your state aid is at 22.86%,” he said, which would hypothetically bring the cost down from $132.1 million to $105.4 million if the grant aid all comes through.
In response to the lingering question of whether it might be more prudent to build new schools — in particular a new Middlebrook School — Kaeyer said the costs to do so would be much higher.
While he praised both the high school and Cider Mill as having been built “extraordinarily well,” he referred to Middlebrook as “an interesting one.”
He said, however, “The $27 million would bring that building up to good condition that could be used for another 25 years, and that’s the plan.”
He noted that a new building could be built on the grounds while keeping the current one open, as there was ample room, but cautioned against the expense.
“It’s not going to be $27 million,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot more than that,” estimating it would run $700 to $750 per square foot for a 180,000-square-foot building.
“That’s a pretty big number,” he said, at around $130 million.