New Windsor scales back teen center plan, rebids construction at Ruscitti Park

New Windsor pulled back its teen center project at Ruscitti Park after the first round of construction bids came in far above what town leaders were willing to spend, but officials did not scrap the plan. The Town Board kept the electrical, plumbing and mechanical contracts and sent the general construction work back out to bid in hopes of getting the total closer to the town’s target.

General contracting proposals ranged from $508,000 to $1.6 million, and the lowest bid that included plumbing, electrical and mechanical work came in at just under $1 million. Supervisor Stephen Bedetti said he could not justify putting that kind of money into an old building. The town decided to hold onto the electrical bid at $94,000, the plumbing bid at $218,000 and the mechanical bid at $138,000 while rebidding the general contracting work.

Jessica Dickinson, director of the New Windsor Recreation Department, said the building had seen little use in other years and was used only briefly for summer camp programming in 2025. The renovation will not change the building’s footprint, but it will refresh the exterior and interior with new panels, windows, a roof, flooring, lighting, a kitchenette, restrooms, storage and a youth office. It also is planned to include a locker room area for families using the splash pad.

Town officials said summer camp will be consolidated at Kristi Babcock Memorial Park while construction is underway. The town still expects work to begin in summer 2026 and finish in the fall, with the splash pad expected to be completed first. That schedule ties the teen center to the broader recreation buildout the town has already mapped out for Ruscitti Park and Kristi Babcock Park.

New Windsor’s 2025 year-end update says the town received a $950,000 recreation grant used for a splash pad and improvements at Kristi Babcock Park and Ruscitti Park. In October 2024, state Sen. James Skoufis announced a $2 million recreation allocation for New Windsor, Goshen and Warwick, with New Windsor set to use its share to explore splash pad options. Bedetti publicly thanked him for continued support as the town pursued the project.

The rebid comes as New Windsor is juggling much larger capital costs. In the same meeting, the board moved forward on an $84,056,000 water project tied to Stewart International Airport, including a new 5.0 million-gallon-per-day water treatment plant at the decommissioned Stewart water filtration site at 50 Crotty Lane, plus replacement of the Jackson Avenue pump station and Catskill Aqueduct tap. Officials also discussed permanent upgrades at the Butterhill Water Treatment Plant after the Butterhill well field was found to be contaminated with PFAS, following a temporary granular activated carbon system installed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Taken together, the decisions show a town trying to keep control of costs without hollowing out a youth project that still has to serve the promise behind it.