Plans for PD school modifications require meeting with county officials

Cascade School District officials met with officials from Chelan County recently over issues related to street improvements outside the Peshastin-Dryden Elementary School which is to be remodeled in the coming year. 

School District Liaison John Henrí said they felt what the county was asking them to do was unfair. It involved the street improvements from the centerline to the school. 

“They wanted to put a 60-foot right-of-way in there,” Henrí said. “If that were true, we would develop 30-foot of it, then 5-foot of paving. Then someday in the future they would do it. Bill (Motsenbocker, superintendent) was there. Keith Goehner (county commissioner) was there. The county engineer and planner. Generally the meeting turned out well.”

Henri said the county backed off everything from the previous meeting. 

“We still would have to do curb and gutter for the area when we develop the elementary school. We have the parking lot that we’ll do as an alternate,” Henri said. “If we have the money, we’ll do the parking lot.”

The tentative agreement is the county will make a decision on whether or not the district has to do the parking lot. He said they may not have to develop that. If the school district does not do the parking lot, they might not have to do the curb and gutter. 

The other point was, if the road is developed to 60-feet, the county is going to have to take out houses and front yards. Henri said the county has no plans to do that. It was suggested, if they are not doing the road, why does the district have to do curb and gutter to match up?

“We said we would sign a commitment with them that we would develop that once they chose to develop the road. We would rather not use our funds right now to develop something they may never do. I think that was received fairly well,” Motsenbocker said. 

Henri said they will be in a dialog with the county all through the design. 

“The design is nearly complete. We had a meeting to get the price down. We’re in the construction documents now. Brandon, the principal for Design West, was here last week. He went through the changes we made,” Henri said. “The design is coming along. We’ll have it done here before the end of October.”

The plan is to hold off on the bidding until after the first of the year. Motsenbocker said they are going to bid the parking lot as an alternate. 

“The reason for that is, if you bid something as an alternate, you can see the price they’re going to charge for that item. Anything in the base bid, you just get the total price and don’t know how much the bathroom fixtures cost or the floor in the gym. Those kinds of things,” Motsenbocker said. “If it is under budget to the point we can afford to do it, we’ll add it. We’ll know what we’re adding and what it will cost us.”

If they are not able to do that, Motsenbocker said they can go out and get their bid separately so they are not getting the mark up from the general contractor. 

“We’re committed to do the parking lot. It needs to be done, but it’s going to be necessary that we know what we’re getting at what cost,” Motsenbocker said. 

Board member Cindy Puckett asked if the school would be getting air conditioning. 

“We have one or two classes where teachers have brought their own air conditioners. Every building in the district will be air conditioned, except Beaver Valley,” Motsenbocker said. 

Alpine Lakes Elementary School

Recently, the contractor used a drone to do a fly over the construction, Henri said. 

“We have the athletic field on site. We needed a topography on the site to see how much dirt we have, so we can fill the space. We need to measure the amount of dirt on the field to see if we have enough,” Henri said. 

Henri said the roof of the multipurpose room is almost done. The metal studs are going in. The insulation is on the exterior of the building, with one side 100 percent done. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing is going on now. 

The water from the ditch on the property is now in a pipe, Henri said. There is still some standing water on the site, but they put rocks in to move the water in a direction. The play structure has been completed. 

Cascade High School

The roof has been started, along with construction on the kitchen, commons area, academic and administration wings. There is now a retaining and drainage ditch to pick up water from Rattlesnake Hill. The drop off area to the kitchen is under construction. It will ultimately be a covered area. 

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