Architect Sean Williams provided the Lloyd Town Board with a conceptual rendering of a pavilion that is slated to be built on the town field, near the hamlet.

Supervisor Dave Plavchak said in 2020 the town received a $125,000 grant from Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson that is to be used to construct the pavilion.

“There have been a couple of tries at designs that were way too expensive so we decided to take a different approach,” he said. “Earlier this year I met Sean Williams who had opened his ReCraft Design office on Main Street. To me, always wanting to use local people and do things with our local professionals and businesses, I was kind of thrilled when John [Fraino] and I went to see him a couple of months ago and he said he was interested in designing a pavilion for us.”

Williams worked traditional elements into his design while keeping it affordable. He is cognizant that the structure, “will be a backdrop to most of our town events, located right on the village green, as something we all want to be proud of and be happy that this is where we come to celebrate our town.”

Williams said the open pavilion design will be 75 feet long by 48 feet wide. In comparison, he said this building is about 50% larger than the Rotary Pavilion at the rail trail head on New Paltz Road but is smaller than the Walkway Over the Hudson Pavilion on the Highland side. He pointed out that on the backside of the building there will be a masonry structure that will have 6 single-use, family friendly changing station bathrooms along with a 500 sq/ft storage area, all of which will be ADA accessible.

Williams said there is about 2,500 sq/ft of open space in the remaining structure that can be used for concerts, picnics, parties open to the public or a backdrop for public events.

Williams said there is an ability to weatherize the bathrooms for year-round use that can be considered as an add-on option, if the budget allows. Another option would be the addition of solar panels on the south side of the building, “which gives us the opportunity to really promote green energy and sustainability in the community. There is a ton of money out there right now that would allow the facility to actually be a net producer [of electricity] and would help the town offset some of the costs.” He said they could also install additional electric car charging stations to the present two that are in the parking lot and also make them net-zero charging stations.

“This would set Highland up as a progressive, forward thinking town,” he said.

Williams is in the process of finalizing bid documents that will be sent out to contractors, “and hopefully they come back with a reasonable cost.” He estimates the building will cost about $250,000.

Plavchak said, “I think this will be great if we can get something that looks like this, it’s unique, it looks a little different and will draw people to the center of town. My personal agenda would be to have this ready next year for July 4th, our biggest event.”

Plavchak will continue looking for more grants to pay for the rest of the costs of the building, “whether we use Covid relief funds or whether we use recreation reserves or whatever we come up with. I think Sean did a great job on it and the next step, with his help, is to get it out to bid.”