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What’s the budget? School board has options around high school renovation, firm says

  • This sketch by BLDD Architects was presented in 2017 as part of a potential plan for renovating the Charles City High School, including replacing the “circle” classrooms. That plan was largely shelved when new Superintendent Mike Fisher came on board in 2018, but now talks of needed facility changes at the high school have resumed, and the school district will ask BLDD to be involved in the discussion because of its previous work.

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

The community and district staff got a new vision of what a renovation project could do to the Charles City High School — although the design is far from being a finished plan.

The floor plan presented Tuesday evening at a special school board meeting would demolish the existing high school’s circle wings and replace them with a new theater/music wing and a two-story classroom and information commons wing.

The plan would also renovate the existing entry and high school administrative offices, and construct a new pathway to connect the Charles City Middle School to the high school’s theater/music wing, entry way and existing north shop wing.

The floor plan sketch gives a rough outline of a $22 million to $23 million modernization, which would require a “yes” from 60 percent of district voters in a not-yet-set election.

MAKING AN ELECTION

No date was set Tuesday on a bond vote election, but in 2018 a referendum could be held in February, April, September or December, said Matt Gillaspie, managing director of Piper Jaffray & Co.

For a 2019 summer construction schedule, the latest an election could be held is in April 2019.

In his public presentation, Gillaspie emphasized that any property tax increases are based on a property’s assessed taxable value, determined by the county assessor, not on what market value is for residential, commercial or agricultural property.

“That becomes really critical,” Gillaspie said. “It’s much more affordable than most people think.”

Assuming a $2.70 levy is passed in a referendum, a residential property assessed at $100,000 by Floyd County would see a tax increase of $137 a year, or $11.42 a month. The average assessed value of one acre of agriculture land is $1,937 — that would have a yearly tax increase of $2.84 an acre.

“It doesn’t matter what you think you could sell your house for. What does the county say it’s worth?” school district Superintendent Dan Cox told the Press. “We’ve seen farmland selling for $12- and $14,000 an acre, but it’s only being assessed at, on average, $1,900 here in Floyd County.”

“The impact on what you know you could sell it for versus what it’s actually assessed at, that’s the page that I hope people will pay attention to,” he added.

The school district could expand the renovation’s budget beyond $23 million without levying more than $2.70 by borrowing against the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy.

That could stretch the district’s budget up to $28 million — but the district would be unable to borrow money for maintenance or updates for 10 years, Gillaspie said.

“We haven’t had any discussion at the board table about borrowing against our PPEL from 2020-2030 to add to the project budget, so I’m sure that conversation will be coming down the road,” Cox said.

“If we were to borrow out against all of our PPEL, we won’t be doing any other projects for a decade.” he said. “Are we comfortable saying nothing is going to happen until 2030? That’s a discussion that the board will have to have.”

NEW DESIGN ANNOUNCED

Jean Underwood, senior associate at BLDD Architects, presented a new two-story floor plan sketch to the district Tuesday.

“This is a little bit different than what you’ve seen in the past, due to one really critical factor,” she said. “We were told that there was the possibility that students could be relocated from this building into the old middle school, which would allow us to demolish all three circles at one time.

“The ability to relocate students during construction shortens the construction time and makes this a lot easier,” Underwood said.

Underwood also told board members that the floor plan has plenty of refinements to be made.

“The budget is $22 million. I’m not comfortable that this will hit that. We have decisions and options to make, but I don’t want to make that for you without your input,” Underwood said. “There are certainly options for phasing and variables out there. We’ll keep working through that with you, knowing that the budget is the budget.”

The floor plan presented by Underwood situates the auditorium and music wing in the center of the high school. The auditorium would be accessible from the high school’s main commons, with two-story seating of 600-650.

Underwood described the wing as including a suite of music spaces on the first floor, with a commons in the center and accessory spaces, such as practice rooms, storage and director’s offices, organized around the commons.

The practice spaces for band, choir and orchestra would have backstage access to the auditorium.

Underwood recommended adding an elevator as part of the wing, although a location isn’t pinpointed on the sketches she presented Tuesday evening.

In place of the two circle wings most visible from Salsbury Avenue, the high school would have a two-story wing of classroom and studio spaces.

The second story of classrooms would be organized around an atrium, with the high school’s first-floor library/commons in the center of the atrium.

The high school’s main entrance would be renovated at its current location, with renovated administrative and support offices monitoring the entry.

The high school would also feature a large, main student commons area with the kitchen at the far end, similar to how the existing cafeteria is organized, Underwood said.

The floor plan Underwood presented also included new construction to create corridors from the high school to the Charles City Middle School’s existing atrium/student commons to aid traffic flow of middle school students trying to access the music/auditorium spaces.

BLDD Architects also included a large, enclosed outdoor classroom area between the high school and middle school.

The plan would use existing parking around the Charles City High School, and leaves the general floor plan of the agriculture/shop wing and 1961-era gymnasium unaltered.

“There is still a lot of input to be put in” by district staff, Underwood said, noting that exact locations for guidance offices, teacher’s classrooms and other details aren’t yet set.

“We will hardline and have pictures (for a referendum), but it won’t be more specific than that,” she said.

PUBLIC MEETINGS PLANNED

Tuesday’s discussions on the renovation project and the North Grand building will be on the agenda during the Jan. 8 board meeting, Cox said.

Through the spring semester, the district will continue to collect public feedback and comments from students and staff to refine a renovation design for the high school.

“In the month of January, there should be more public discussion about this, and it likely will be the town hall format,” Cox said. “What people saw tonight is a concept, and it will take time to bring to more detail.”

 

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