OLD SAYBROOK - Renovating the 36 Lynde Street building, formerly a phone company call center, into a new Police Station, and replacing the 22 year-old middle school roof and the 50 year-old windows at Goodwin Elementary School. These are the projects for which First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., asked the Board of Finance (BOF) to weigh funding.

At the next Board of Finance meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17 in the Old Saybrook Middle School Library, the BOF will likely vote on whether or not to send the capital spending requests on to Town Meeting.

If the BOF moves forward all of the capital spending proposals, Fortuna estimates the bonding package on which the town would vote in October at about $15 million.

Fortuna presented to the Board of Finance with several financing options developed in collaboration with the town's municipal bond advisor, Mark Chapman of IBIC. The model Fortuna prefers would minimize the impact of the new capital spending on town taxpayers.

"The one that is most preferable would represent three-tenths of one mill in new debt payment in the first year. In the second year, the annual rent for the current police station that would no longer be paid would offset the new incremental debt cost. In year three, the town would add about $140,000 in new debt. But after that, the town's total annual debt payments would actually decline each year," explained Fortuna.

"In a low interest-rate environment, we're trying to tackle all our capital needs. Every project represents something that should have been done 5 to 10 years ago," said Fortuna.

Probably in early October, town electors will be asked to vote on whether to approve bonding authorizations for a new police station, capital maintenance projects at the school buildings, and for a new artificial turf field.

The design and construction costs of the new police station are estimated at $9.9 million. The design and construction costs of this proposed project were developed by town architect Brian Humes working with Downes Construction, the town's design-build firm. The proposal has also been reviewed and approved by the Police Station Building Committee chaired by Dan Moran.

Cost estimates to complete the various school capital projects were developed by the school district's administrative team and reviewed by the Board of Education and the first selectman. Replacing the middle school roof will cost $1.9 million; the town would receive about $500,000 in state grant funding to offset the costs. The Goodwin School window replacement project, proposed in each of the last 14 years, is estimated to cost $1.4 million.

Superintendent of Schools Jan Perruccio, when asked about the need for these projects, said, "The original middle school roof had a 15-year life; it's now 21 or 22 years old. We're now chasing leaks and throwing good money after bad each year. The roof has outlived its life expectancy and needs to be replaced.

"At Goodwin Elementary School, most of the windows we want to replace date to 1961-'63, when the school was built. This project would replace the 50 year-old single-pane windows with new energy-efficient ones," said Perruccio.

The Board of Finance also was asked to consider three other capital funding requests that support both interscholastic and recreational programming: replacement of the high school track, now 20 years old, and the tennis courts, of similar age. Replacing the existing six tennis courts with new ones would cost $300,000, while the track replacement would cost $250,000.

"We've been spending a lot on repairs in recent years. Our concern over the next few years is one of liability," said Perruccio.

The final project would be to replace the current natural grass turf at the high school with a new artificial turf playing surface. This project is estimated to cost $1.2 million.

"Since becoming superintendent of schools in July, I have been inundated with letters of concern about the use of high school fields. There are numerous community and club athletic groups all competing to use a limited number of fields,' said Perruccio.

On an artificial turf field, unlike a natural grass one, several athletic practices can be scheduled per day without concern for field damage. A single artificial turf field, if three practices can be scheduled on it each day, is the equivalent of adding three new fields to the town's inventory.

Artificial turf fields also are useable both during and after heavy rains, unlike grass fields, and their surface does not attract geese to feed since there are no bugs to feed upon.

The largest recreational multi-purpose field in town is the one just completed at the town's Ferry Road site. This field, however, is designed to the size specifications for U-12 soccer programs. Larger fields are needed for older teen sports programs such as for U-13 and U-14 soccer.

As a result, there has been increasing competition for scheduled practice time on the limited number of high school fields large enough for the older teen sports programs.

Replacing the grass turf with an artificial one would allow more local teen and adult athletic clubs and programs to practice and play in town. According to Parks & Recreation Department Assistant Director Ray Allen, some of these clubs now must seek practice and play fields in other towns because there are no appropriate facilities in Old Saybrook.