February 11, 2014 at 2:18 p.m.
School district moving forward with facilities facelift
Panel votes to hire architectural firm to complete surveys
School district moving forward with facilities facelift
The committee last met in October to discuss a possible facelift for Mike Webster Stadium. Multiple improvements were debated at that time, including a possible resurfacing of the track.
Two decisions were made at the meeting. One, the committee directed that $170,000 be put aside to resurface the track before the end of the 2014-'15 school year. Two, the committee directed that Requests for Proposals be sent out to area architects for the development of an outdoor facilities plan at the middle school and high school.
It was the facilities plan that brought the committee together Monday.
That plan, according to Superintendent Kelli Jacobi, must be completed before any work can be done.
"We're holding off on the track resurfacing because if there's private money that's available to work on the field, the lighting, we'd love to see the football field be able to be used as a soccer field, we have to have a master plan," Jacobi said. "Because each of those components is so expensive - I mean just resurfacing the track we put $170,000 aside - each of the components is really expensive, so we want to be sure to have the big plan before we just start piecemealing it and then have to make a change. We don't want to be driving equipment over a brand new track to do work on the field."
The district sent out the request to eight architectural firms, with HSR Associates, Inc. of La Crosse coming back with the cheapest and most comprehensive estimate.
"The presentation that was the most comprehensive was done by HSR Associates, Inc. and Point of Beginning (of Stevens Point). It included a long-term, long-range facilities plan in addition to the outdoor work. They are willing to come in and look at all of our facilities, not just the sports (facilities) and around the stadium," Jacobi said.
"They came in at the lowest rate and (the two companies will be working together), so we're bringing forward this recommendation to work with HSR."
HSR charges a $5,000 fee for its services, plus additional fees for the completion of an environmental impact survey ($500-$1,000), geotechnical soil testing ($2,000-$2,500), site surveys ($2,000-$12,000) and a wetland delineation survey ($2,500-$3,500).
Committee chairman Mike Roberts said if the district is going to move forward with the stadium facelift and other projects, the smart move is to put all of its ducks in a row before starting anything.
"If we want a full, comprehensive facility plan, we have to spend the money for the soils, the surveys, all of it. I think if we're looking at spending ($170,000) to resurface the track and potentially another $150,000 on lighting, it really behooves us to spend this money up front to make sure that we're doing what's right and spending our dollars wisely," Roberts said.
Roberts noted he was in on the interviews and presentations and HSR offered the most impressive proposal.
"A number of things that stood out to me with HSR's proposal was the fact that they had architects and planners in-house which helps a lot," Roberts said.
"Point of Beginning has done a lot of our surveying and stuff before so I think that's why they chose them as surveyors, and they have an extensive history in landscape architecture specific to school and college facilities."
Additionally, Roberts said HSR included aspects in their proposal that the district had not thought about but that are definitely needed.
"There's also the fact that they brought up things that we hadn't really thought about, that they would do in the facility plan, such as looking at energy conservation, curricular enhancement, a full site traffic flow study and then a long-term K-12 plan which would all be part of the facilities plan," Roberts said.
The main focus of the survey and plan would be the area around the high school and middle school.
"They will want to get a survey of what we have now and a survey of our existing space in the area between the high school and the middle school, and not limit themselves with what we can do with what we have," Roberts said.
"They will talk about if we need a total new configuration - if it would work best if the whole stadium was moved to a new location. They'll look at that, cost that and see if it makes economical sense. ... That's one thing I liked, they're not going to limit themselves to just keeping everything there. The cost might make that necessary, but they're going to look at the full campus and help us make that determination."
Committee member David Holperin asked what the K-12 plan would include. Specifically, Holperin wanted to know whether the architects would look into the possibility of creating a single campus district in the high school/middle school area should the district decide to go in that direction sometime in the future.
"When they talked about the long-term K-12 plan, that's what they were talking about - what's the life left of our existing buildings and, if we would go down that road, where would you put a big K-12 building or just bringing elementary to this campus," Roberts said.
"They're not going to go in and do a comprehensive analysis of every system in each building, but they'll look at the space needs, they'll look at the data we have on enrollment and where that's going and determine how long our space will last us and what our space needs are."
Hearing that, Holperin made a motion to recommend board approval of the HSR proposal.
"I'm proposing that we make a motion to hire HSR Associates to create a facility plan, include a survey of Mike Webster Stadium and the (the high school and middle school) campuses, conceptualize and facilitate the planning and upgrades and improvements to the stadium, out-buildings and campus areas including the track, field and practice fields. We would recommend to the full board to spend up to $15,000 for that portion," Holperin said.
"That's all of the different costs and, of the $2,000 to $12,000 for site surveys, that's using $3,000, because I don't see any need to go out and do Crescent or Pelican or (Northwoods Community Elementary School) or Central. It's just this campus right here."
The motion was approved unanimously. The proposal will now go to the full board for final approval.
The committee is hoping to have the surveys and assessments done by the end of the school year so that fundraising efforts can begin with a facilities plan in place.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.