Cascade school construction moving swiftly as winter approaches

Large construction projects such as the Cascade School District’s Alpine Lakes Elementary and new Cascade High School operate like machines with many well-oiled parts. The parts are all the entities that frequently meet, collaborate and make decisions without interfering with the timeline for construction. 

Lydig Construction and Fowler Construction won the competitive bids a year ago to run operations for the high school and elementary school construction, respectively. They work hand-in-hand with the ESD 112 Construction Services Group (CSG), which does management oversight for many school projects in Washington state.

The meetings occur weekly, as Barry Meredith, Lydig superintendent explained. “We go over what to expect in the coming weeks, any questions the liaison or CSG has, and any changes that might need to be made. About once a month we look over the budget.”

John Henri, a local with a lifetime of construction management experience, serves as the liaison for Cascade School District on both projects. He attends the contract meetings, which brings together the construction superintendents, the architects and the CSG. Henri brings anything that needs approval, when it is a shift from the contract, back to the school board. 

“We’ve been very fortunate to have these two construction companies working on the schools,” Henri said. “Fowler and Lydig have been very cooperative with the school district. Both projects are right on schedule within a day or two.”

A few unknowns are the norm in construction projects and must be dealt with as soon as they are detected. Locally, the unforeseen site conditions of the new high school were one such issue. The quantity of boulders was unknown until excavating began. The number of boulders wasn’t excessive. However, undocumented garbage, automotive debris and tree trunks also lay buried in the dirt. Lydig removed everything, and being unable to use it as backfill, they brought in truckloads of dirt.

As for the elementary school, the complications of wetland mitigation were resolved in late August. The site was deemed not a wetland, but enclosing the perpetually filled ditch in an underground pipe required a JARPA (Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application) permit, which took time. “Now with the finished pipe, which runs east/west across the entire site, the lateral storm crossings and swales could all be completed,” Jeff McKee, Fowler superintendent said.

Snow will begin to fly in a month or two, and the construction crews are preparing. 

“Ninety percent of the roof and vapor barrier are done for Alpine Lakes, and by the end of the week, it will be 100 percent,” said McKee. With windows installed in the following four weeks, the elementary school will be dry and ready for winter progress. 

The high school, being a bigger and more complex structure, is not as far along. Meredith, however, was confident that his workers, 40 to 60 on any given day, would have the school ready for interior work before the first winter storm. “The roof is going on soon. There’ll be vapor barriers to allow for work inside. We’ll have heaters in there. Interior and exterior work will be able to continue.”

The high school’s new gym and auxiliary gym, completed in the first construction phase, shine with the gloss of their recently cured hardwoods. Hardly a scuffmark has marred their surfaces. The bleachers, when stacked, proclaims “CHS” and the Kodiak bear snarls proudly in the middle of the gym floor.

“We only had two months to completely redo the gyms,” explained Meredith. “The school district was very proactive in making changes so that we could stick to the schedule.” For instance, the board quickly agreed to a full fresh coat of paint on the upper half of the gym walls, when they saw that it would greatly enhance the appearance of the gym.

Lydig does all sorts of large-scale construction projects. Meredith most recently hales from renovating a prison in Arizona. About working on this site, Meredith said, “It’s been fun to work with the school staff. We’ve given a few tours. They are really excited to see the progress.”

Students enrolled in woodshop have also toured the construction site. Meredith said he’d be happy to give more tours to students if they are requested.

The next phase to be completed is the high school’s academic wing. Structural steel girds the two stories, and the crew is currently adding sprinklers, ductwork and electrical to the metal skeleton of the interior walls. The second floor science rooms are being enhanced to meet the needs of modern science and technology curriculum. Dry wall will begin this month. And the site has been fully prepared with improvements to sewer, water and power.

A few blocks away, the construction site for Alpine Lakes Elementary hosts anywhere from 60 to 75 workers per day, currently working on mechanical, electrical and plumbing rough in, as well as adding curbs and gutters to the site. McKee hopes to have asphalt laid in mid-November to make the site cleaner and easier to plow in the winter.

The two stories of school space are used efficiently, with the multipurpose room and computer lab downstairs, the library on the second floor and huge picture windows to brighten the stairwells. McKee, who most recently worked on a condominium complex in the Tri-Cities, said, “This is a straight-forward project.”

Although staff hasn’t had a chance to tour the site yet, McKee said, “Probably in late November we’ll be able to give tours.” 

Toward the end of construction, in the spring, Fowler will add landscaping and build the playground next to the curvy roofed covered area.

As soon as Alpine Lakes Elementary is complete, the reconstruction of Peshastin-Dryden (P.D.) Elementary will begin. The design team, which includes Henri, has completed about 95 percent of the design. They will release it for bids in December and make a decision on the winning contractor in spring of 2018. “Both Fowler and Lydig have shown interest in bidding for P.D,” Henri said. The bidding takes time as the construction companies must also hire subcontractors, some of which travel from Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Seattle to work on large rural projects. 

The expected handover date for Alpine Lakes is June 23, 2018. The high school academic wing will be ready for fall 2018 and the wing with art, the athletic department, fitness center and visitor lockers will be completed by fall 2019.