Additional funds for Field House, office projects OKd

BOGOTA - Bogota Board of Education trustees approved a change order to its field house and board office projects after unforeseen circumstances arose, requiring additional work on the two buildings before they can be completed.

The board authorized a withdrawal of an additional $96,278 from its general capital fund account to be transferred to the capital projects fund account from which the money for its two current projects the board office and the field house at Fiegel Field. The majority of the money will go towards the installation of a new water line for the field house, which is approximately $88,000.

Some time during the summer, it was discovered that the existing water line at the field house was galvanized pipe and was 18 inches below grade. The excavation of a test pit revealed that the water line was too shallow and United Water subsequently required an upgrade to the service line before water would be provided.

Tara Dehoney, a construction administrator for USA Architects, made a presentation to the board at a special meeting on Sept. 2, in which she outlined the plan for bringing water to the field house.

A water heater inside a hot box would be installed adjacent to the baseball field and running two separate lines in case one freezes. The cost of the project includes 500 feet of piping, excavation, an electric line running to the hot box, concrete padding and the hot box itself.

The current water pit, which houses the water heater for nearby streets, was deemed unsafe in November of last year as it is located in the middle of the street. The new plan would move the water heater to a safe place, out of the street.

The need for a large amount of piping stems from the fact that homes on Feller Place, where Fiegel Field is located, do not have their own dedicated water line as most streets do. Instead, the water line from River Road has pipes that run underneath its houses and feed into the dwellings on Feller Place.

"This is a highly unusual circumstance," said Superintendent Dr. Letizia Pantoliano. "In almost any other situation, we would only have to install pipe running from the field house to the street and wed only be going about 30 feet."

A portion of the remaining $13,000 being moved to the capital projects fund will go towards the repair of the sidewalk in front of the board office on Henry Luthin Place.

Dehoney explained that the boroughs building department has requested that the asphalt and curb in front of the board office be ripped out and repaired. Approximately 50 linear feet of asphalt is needed to complete that segment of the project.

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Additional funds for Field House, office projects OKd