Construction proceeds on high and elementary schools

Even though school is back in session, construction proceeds at Cascade High School and Alpine Lakes Elementary School. Construction Liaison John Henri briefed the school board at the Aug. 21 meeting. 

The floors in the main and auxiliary gyms will be ready by Sept. 8. The roof work is complete on the gym and the the locker rooms are ready. 

“We wanted to have the main gym and the aux gym ready (for school start,) but the floor was not  cured out. We chose to extend it out another five days, so there is 10 days for the floor to cure, so we won’t have any issues with soft floors,” Henri said. 

Basketball hoops are set in the gyms. In the old gym, the roof area has been cleaned up and new lights have been installed. The duct work was taken down and put back up, painted all the same color. 

The locker rooms have new paint and tile. The main gym has all new lights. 

“We took the ceiling down, as you remember. We took everything out above the ceiling, put all new conduit, wire, duct work. Repainted. We found the perimeter was not finished, so we refinished it and painted it. Really looks nice,” Henri said. “It’s incredible where we took the ceiling out. It gives the whole building a new look, twice as big. New bleachers. The bleachers in the aux gym will follow in the next month or two. No seating in the gym at the moment. We’re saving a little on the bleachers by not going through the contractor.”

The student parking lot at the high school is ready for students, with the organic material. Henri said they put it down early this year, because last year, the students tracked it into the school. 

On the academic and administration wings, they are putting in the perimeter studs, he said. 

“They are going to be pouring the slab on the second floor. The roofing will be going on later in October,” Henri said. “The commons, kitchen, band room will be going in in Sept. 1 or Oct. 1. We’ll be moving full blown to get the construction steel done in the commons area. Once they finish the academic wing, they’ll move right into the commons area.”

Project completion is September 2019. The building will be ready for students in the fall of 2018. In December of 2019, the buildings will be essentially done, he said. If they don’t get the exterior painting done in the summer of 2018, they’ll have to do it in 2019. 

Alpine Lakes Elementary School

At long last, the U.S. Corps of Engineers have approved the JARPA  (Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application) for the project to put the water on the property into a ditch. 

“We started this in March 2015. August 2017 and we just got approval that is not a wetland. We can put the water in the ditch into a pipe. We can mitigate for wetlands at the city property on Poplar Street.,” Henri said. 

The wetland mitigation plan is complete. This will be going out to bid on the small works roster for the earth work. That will be done, then a wetlands mitigation company will come do the plants. 

“We really want to have that done before the winter. Getting the approval from the Corps just a week ago kind of hurt us. Can’t do anything until we had that. When we went to the Poplar site, the issue of Camas root came up and put that on hold,” Henri said. “We had go back and do a new study. We went to local folks and get information. The Corps accepted it.”

On the building, he said they’ve completed perimeter studs and window framing. Interior studs have started. As soon as that is done, they can start doing electrical and mechanical in the walls. 

Roofing on the multipurpose room has started. Site development is continuing. They’ve started to put pipe in the ditch to capture the water. 

Students will move into the new school in September 2018.  

Giant Boulder

“In the driveway at Scamahorn house, when we started to put this water line in, this boulder was in the water line,” Henri said. “The contractor needed to get the water line in, so they brought two dozers and just moved it toward the house. We’ve found the asphalt was actually mounted right on top of the boulder. As soon I heard about it, I called the city and said you have one hell of a boulder in the right of way.” 

Henri said they’ve found three boulders in the right of way. Since the school district is putting in the water line, they had to move the boulder first. 

“If the city comes back with a contractor next summer, they would have a hell of a time getting that out, whereas it is easy to get out now,” Henri said. “The boulder is as wide as a two car garage. The plan is have Rayfield do it. They have a method where they drill it, then split it with hydraulic splitter. We’re going to try that. They are pretty confident they can do it.”

Peshastin Dryden Elementary School

Schematic design for PD was done last summer. Henri said it was shelved when they went through the rebidding process with the other schools. It was revisited this summer. They went through some value engineering items to reduce cost. 

“We went right into design and development. We’ve had two design and development meetings. Our costs were still high, so we did some more value engineering. They put together alternates in the bid, so if we don’t have enough money, we’ll take an alternate,” he said. 

The budget for PD has a pretty large contingency, 7 percent. At Alpine Lakes, it was 5-to-6 percent. 

“In the budget, we not only have current pricing, but also a pretty good contingency for this stage,” he said. “We expect the design to be complete before December. More likely, in November. We hope to bid this in late winter, so we have a contractor on board in April. Construction in the summer of 2018. In 2019, they should be moving into the school.”

The tennis courts at Osborn School property are done. Dirt has been stockpiled for construction of the Pine Street athletic fields. The soil will be used for the embankment to extend the fields. 

“The topographic surveys should be done by the end of this month. We hope to take all that soil leveled off and impacted. We hope to have that done late in September or October,” Henri said. “The thing holding that off more than anything is, right now we’re not sure if we’re going to make it a change order to the existing contract of Fowler or Hurst. We may want to bid that so we get a good competitive price.”

Henri said they don’t want the field to interfere with what is being done on the site. 

“We want the site work done before this gets started. The main two processes, the pond we talked about, the swale to the pond, the ditch, which should all be going in during the months of August and September,” Henri said. “Once they are out of that area, the next contractor can come do the work, if we have a separate contractor. Landscaping for the fields would probably be done next spring.”

Superintendent Bill Motsenbocker said they are applying for a $100,000 grant from the NFL. 

“There are a couple things you need to do to qualify for it. You need to be in one of the NFL regions that are being marketed. The entire state and the Seahawks are on the list,” Motsenbocker said. “We also have to do at least 1-to-1 match. The more match you have, the more chance you have of getting the project. We’ll probably have a 3-to-1 match instead of a 1-to-1 match. That could pretty much pay for all the irrigation and all the sod, so we don’t have to plant it.”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.