School construction projects winding down

Construction on the new Alpine Lakes Elementary School is coming along well, according Cascade School District Construction Liaison John Henri.
“The paving is done. They are grading the landscaping, putting pipe in the ground for the irrigation. The earthwork contractor will be moving dirt all around the landscape areas,” Henri said, at the May 29 Cascade School Board meeting. “Once that is done, they will start grading the soccer/athletic field, which goes all the way to Titus Road. Right now, as I’ve said before, costs are under budget. The contractor is supposed to be complete on June 27.”
Other than the soccer/athletic field, everything should be close to completion by June 27, he said. The big issue right now is the elevator at the school, which is needed to move the furniture up to the second floor.
“Right now. the furniture is postponed to June 11, but we couldn’t because of the elevator,” Henri said. “The problem with the elevator is not that it doesn’t work. We need L&I to come before we can use it. We’re trying to work out method where a contractor can use it now. That is the biggest issue.”
Telephone lines and Internet for the building is ready, he said. Everything is also on schedule with the high school to complete phase one.
“We have no doubts we’ll make the schedule. We’re trending right around budget. The idea is to get as much paving done as we can by this fall, so we don’t have to do any next summer,” Henri said of the high school. “If we don’t finish the exterior due to the weather, then we’ll have to do work next summer.”
School Board member Trey Ising asked if the demo work needs to be done before the parking lot can be constructed.
“School’s out on June 15. Teachers are out on June 17. We’ll have the hazmat (hazardous materials) in there in June. In July, we’ll start tearing the buildings down. By September, we should have the buildings gone and the structures starting to go up,” Henri said. “While that is going on, we’ll be grading the parking lots.”
The grading must be done before the kids come back, he said.
“We want to have the paving done by the end of August, so the kids have a parking lot. That is the ideal situation,” Henri said. “It will be tough because we still have some underground (work) on the west side of the school that has to go in.”
The Peshastin-Dryden School project is in a holding pattern, he said. The school district is still getting submittals on the work. The demoing of the school will not start until the kids are out. Right now, he said they know of no hazmat issues.
“We’ll demo the schools this summer. By the following summer, we’ll be ready for the students. As of today, there are no issues with Peshastin-Dryden. That could change when we demo the building. We could find all kinds of things,” Henri said.
Work on the high school was delayed due to finding a lot junk buried in ground, but Henri believes that’s probably not likely at the PD site.
“Keep in mind, we’re not doing a lot of excavation on that side. We have the existing building and we’re adding around 8,000 square feet. We’re only talking about foundation for 8,000 square feet as opposed to 100,000 at the high school and 45,000 at the elementary school,” Henri said. “The likelihood of us hitting the bad, unsuitable material is unlikely. If we hit it, we’ll address it, but it will be smaller.”
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.