Town opens new pickleball courts

The Town of Oyster Bay recently completed construction on pickleball courts at Centre Island Beach in Bayville.

“This fun sport has become a favorite among our residents and we’re pleased to add new pickleball courts throughout the Town,” said Councilman Steve Labriola. “Pickleball is a great recreational activity for all ages and playing surfaces have been in popular demand. These new courts at Centre Island Beach in have the added benefit of a beautiful view, as they are situated along the backdrop of the harbor.”

Pickleball combines the elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong, and has become a favorite in many communities. The game is played with a wooden paddle and lightweight plastic ball and can include two, three or four players. The dimensions and layout closely resemble a badminton court, which is considerably smaller than a tennis court.

“Pickleball is a very fun, social and healthy activity for the whole family and these new courts are a welcome addition to the community. So, grab your sneakers and paddle, and get ready to play one of the world’s

From performed by architectural consultants to the district at H2M Architects + Engineers of Melville.

“The board asked the architects to come back with a prioritization list of the projects as obviously not all of the work that will eventually need to be done has to be completed immediately. They (H2M) are working on that and I anticipate having that ready for the board at the regularly-scheduled August 28 board meeting,” Dr. Rogers noted.

Timeline for referendum presented

The district goals for facilities includes safety for students and staff as the top priority, with a plan to ensure facilities are “adequately sized and appropriate for the instruction we envision.” Superintendent Rogers noted that Syosset CSD has approximately 1 million square feet under district management, so the board’s tours over the course of about a year have not examined every bit of facilities.

With the identifications of buildings’ needs being presented and now put in priority order by H2M Architects + Engineers, Superintendent Rogers shared a potential timeline to lead the district up to a new referendum vote on bonding for facilities upgrades. The process will include several public meetings and presentations and regular board meetings ahead of the referendum.

“The goal would be to put together presentations that we can begin sharing with the public generally as the board begins to identify its priorities and finalize the scope of work. Because of the size of this with some smaller projects, the school district can declare itself a ‘Type II Lead Agency’ for state environmental review (SEQRA) with less environmental reviews necessary – the smaller projects are less impactful. But several of the projects under consideration including conversion of portables into something more permanent would undoubtedly exceed the size, so for that we’d have to do Type I NYS-mandated environmental reviews and it would take time,” Dr. Rogers said.

Ultimately the time in between the Board of Education arriving at a final scope of work for a facilities bond referendum and the community’s vote would be 45 days at minimum. The district would organize extensive public engagement about the referendum projects with community members, parents and district staff during that 45-day or longer period leading up to the special vote.

Enrollment a key to facilities planning

Dr. Rogers said Syosset CSD is trying to manage some of its enrollment growth by converting a large storage space at the high school into a usable classroom. He said the district will be able to “go plus-1 on classrooms this summer, and while one won’t be enough it is certainly a start.”

Another example of upgrades needed was for the district’s portable (trailer-style) accessory spaces and how the portables are aging and in need of replacement.

“They have not reached the end of their useful life to us but we want to plan ahead for what their successors will be and have a thoughtful transition from the current space to the future space – in many cases there will need to be some overlap. We want the buildings and structures of the district to support the learning the children are doing, recognizing that the learning is changing and evolving over time,” he said.

Adjustments necessitated by Syosset schools’ enrollment trends and the modern uses of learning spaces, plus hopes to enhance social environments such as cafeterias and a student courtyard, set up a basis for investments to come, according to Superintendent Rogers. He said that many of the issues are common in other buildings.

“A lot of the challenges that exist in our school buildings exist in a similar way in other buildings. If you see the same, non-structural cracked wall in one building, the tour did not cover