To the editor:

This is my summary update to residents on the Siwanoy Elementary School expansion plan. The board of education is expected to vote to finalize bond proposals at its meeting on Wednesday, which will then be subject to a town-wide vote on May 20. It is expected that the board will approve revised Option B for Siwanoy, which adds Americans with Disability Act (ADA) accessibility and eight new classrooms (three net new) to the school, as well as approving the drilling of approximately 35 geothermal wells in the upper part of the playground.

The board’s architect and construction manager have stated this will be a minimum three-year-long construction project to start in June 2027. This project will be very noisy, dirty and extremely intrusive, resulting in the loss of almost all of the playground area for the entirety of the project period. Heavy equipment, material delivery and workers will be accessing and parking at the work site daily at early hours through the two narrow neighborhood entry points. Well drilling is particularly disruptive, dirty and loud. To be clear, the construction impact will be to the entire neighborhood for at least three years, not just the homes directly adjacent to or facing the school. Spillover construction impact will affect Esplanade, Pelhamdale Avenue, Stellar Avenue, Reed Avenue, Witherbee Avenue, Hazen Street and Monterey Avenue. Noise disturbance will extend further. This project will impact anyone in Pelham Manor zoned for Siwanoy School who wants to or needs to sell their home in the next five years.

Revised Option B will result in the permanent loss of approximately one third of the existing playground space. Current Siwanoy students in grades three through five will not be impacted by or benefit from the project as construction is expected to commence in June 2027, but current grades Kindergarten through second will attend school in a construction zone for up to three years, and preschoolers who enroll at Siwanoy will be matriculating into a construction zone.

Additionally, Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ has claimed that the district is exempt from Village of Pelham Manor zoning rules. The Manor’s zoning rules relate to stormwater prevention, yard setbacks, lot coverage, height, area of disturbance, grading and the non-continuation of existing nonconformities. The Manor’s position is that its zoning rules apply to the project, and it appears that this is supported by legal precedent. Why the concern about zoning? The proposed expansion will be too close to the neighboring residential property lines. There is concern about the height of the project, and that stormwater impacts may not be properly identified and mitigated before construction begins. The district’s position on zoning is neither equitable nor reasonable to take towards proximate property owners. A school with the enrollment of Siwanoy, if built new, would require five times the land area of the Siwanoy campus.

The board did not put forth an Option A to the public for consideration, which would have addressed ADA accessibility with no net new classrooms. Option C, which would have resulted in demolition of the side wings of the school and construction of a large addition, has been rightfully abandoned by the board. Revised Option B adds classrooms that are not currently needed nor supported by accurate future enrollment estimates and ignores Manor zoning rules. There is a board belief that they should build bigger for potential future needs. However, the district is eliminating a teacher at Siwanoy after this year, and 14 are retiring at PMHS with most of those positions to remain unfilled; money for teachers comes from the district’s operating budget, which is under severe fiscal stress. Buildings don’t educate children, good teachers do.

Adam Ilkowitz and I have advocated publicly and privately for a smaller project that addresses ADA but is sensitive to the functionality of Siwanoy to the neighborhood and community—and to the concerns of neighborhood property owners. I’ve personally suggested to the board that it cut the size of the proposed expansion in half, reduce the construction timeline and impact, and drop geothermal. I’ve also requested that the board pause the May bond vote to form a Siwanoy steering committee of Siwanoy neighbors and parents of current students to have time to take input from the district’s new bond steering committee of engineers and developers (no one currently on the board has any relevant development experience) and to revisit a more comprehensive district-wide plan. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting any consideration of this by the board before Wednesday.

The overall bond size is expected to be greater than $140 million and would result in a yearly tax increase of more than $1,400 per year on a home with a $1.5 million assessed valuation, and that is before considering the additional impact of the yearly operating budget tax increases (an approximate 4% increase over your current school taxes). There are many concerns about bloat and unnecessary projects in the overall bond size. The board has not addressed the very real possibility of assessed property values dropping significantly for Siwanoy-zoned homes during the next five years pre-construction through completion, which would further increase the tax burden on homes zoned for Prospect Hill Elementary School, Colonial Elementary School and Hutchinson Elementary School.

If any of this—the construction, playground loss, student impact, tax increase, rushed manner—bothers you, voices need to be heard! The board needs to hear from you. We don’t need to accept this. Tell the board to pause putting forward the bond and allow this project to be thoughtfully considered. Please reach out to and work your contacts of influence. Stop by the board coffee at Shea Station on Wednesday at 9 a.m. on your way into the office or after drop-off and be heard. I’m hopeful that a large neighborhood turnout for the board meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Pelham Memorial High School will be considered by the board before it takes action. You can deliver outreach/pushback to the board (boe@pelhamschools.org) and voice concern to Lindsey Luft, the Pelham Manor village manager (villagemanager@pelhammanor.org). If approved by the board for a vote at the May 20 district election, I hope you’ll join me in voting “NO” on the bond proposals to send a message to the board that it needs to stop rushing this and go back to the drawing board and come up with a sensible solution for Siwanoy.

Save Siwanoy.

Rob Condon

501 Manor Lane