School projects on schedule
Published 10:52 am Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Project manager Brandy Fox provided construction updates within the school district to members of the City Council at the joint session Thursday, Oct. 8.
Fox said construction at Islander Middle School was 30 percent finished, with most of the underground work complete, and structural masonry and steel work underway.
The middle school project will add 93,000 square feet of new construction, including 15 new classrooms, a library, main gym and administrative and counseling space.
Fox said parking lot reconfiguration, which took place last summer and added a queuing lane along 84th Avenue Southeast, has reduced traffic congestion at the school.
The project is expected to be completed next fall. Demolition and abatement of the school’s commons and music wing is set for this summer and Fox anticipated some planting work to stretch into the fall.
Structural steel work is complete and workers are well into roofing at Northwood Elementary, which Fox said was about 40 percent complete.
A first layer of asphalt for the school’s parking area will go down before winter. Fox said all of the main access to Northwood will be off 86th Avenue Southeast. With the high school parking lot located on the east side of the Northwood site near Mary Wayte Pool, entry through that area will be limited to buses, walkers and those on bicycles.
Fox said the elementary school will be available sooner than the middle school, expecting completion in late June or early July of next year.
According to the its guide to the 2015-16 operating budget, the district is set to spend nearly $85 million in capital projects this year, with $75 million going to the new elementary and middle school projects. The guide shows an ending fund balance of $2.228 million for August of 2016.
