Cobleskill-Richmondville’s long-stalled $38 million building project is back on track.
The school board Monday night authorized President Bruce Tryon to sign a contract to buy JT’s Cycles to expand the district’s bus garage.
The price is $275,000, but the deal is contingent on voters approving the entire building project, probably in May.
Expanding the garage was a key element of the project when Superintendent Carl Mummenthey proposed it in September. School officials examined several parcels without success before settling on JT’s, which is next to the bus garage on Route 10.
Discussed for years, improving the bus garage is necessary for extra work space, upgrading equipment, storage and “the health and safety of the people who work there,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
“Our staff has been doing a great job in imperfect conditions,” he added.
Three past superintendents considered bus garage projects, but nothing got off the ground, Mr. Tryon said.
The six-month delay in the current building project indicates the difficulty in solving the problem, past and present.
“This is the first step of finally enhancing the flawed facility that our transportation staff has been working in for years,” Mr. Tryon said.
“It may not look like it from the outside, but the garage is in dire need of replacement and repair.”
The plan is to renovate both the garage and JT’s and bring them up to current standards.
The rest of the project––the largest C-R undertaking since building the high school in the late ’90s––includes improvements to all C-R buildings: the high school, Radez, Ryder and Golding.
The public vote, which Mr. Mummenthey said could be on the same day as the annual budget vote, would be in two propositions.
The first would be the large project, and the second would be a proposal to replace the natural grass with artificial turf at the high school soccer/football field.

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As for JT’s Cycles, owner Joe Tracy said he’s looking at several sites to move his business.
“The timing is perfect,” Mr. Tracy said of the C-R deal.