Details on $116M In School Building Projects Released

Details on 34 school facilities improvement projects have been publicly released.

Documentation outlining $116 million worth of capital projects appeared on the school district's website Wednesday. The Community Facilities Committee, a group of citizens organized over the course of several years, submitted the proposal to the Board of Education last month. The only way to fund the projects would be through a referendum.

About $39 million in funding for the projects would come through state grants, with taxpayers having to front the remainder, committee members said at the last meeting of the school board. The grants, known as Regular Operating District - or ROD - grants, expire Jan. 31, 2012, meaning a referendum would have to be approved before then. The Board of Education has until the middle of September to approve a January vote, though proponents of the improvements have said they would prefer a December vote, which would have to be approved this month.

Members of the committee have said the improvement projects are needed to maintain school facilities that are outdated.

""We need to be able to move these projects forward, and finally be able to come together as a board and deal with the deterioration," school board members Kim Terebush said at the board's July 24 meting.

In all, the committee proposed $116,266,500 in improvements, out of which $77,176,281 would be funded by township taxpayers. The state would fund a $39,090,219 portion.

The proposed projects include:

• BTHS - 6 Classroom Addition
• BTHS - New gym and main office and lobby, reconfigure classrooms
• BTHS - General renovations
• BTHS - Doors, Geothermal
• BMHS - Replace Chillers, boilers and add ventilation to corridors
• BMHS - HVAC in Server Room
• BMHS - New lockers
• Drum Point - Plumbing, Gas Piping
• Drum Point - Electrical upgrades
• Drum Point - Boilers, Hot water pumps, ventilation equipment
• Lake Riviera - Boilers, Hot water pumps, ventilation equipment
• Lake Riviera - Renovation of Locker Rooms, gas piping, lead filters
• Lake Riviera - HVAC in Server Room
• Lake Riviera - Replacement of main electrical panel
• Lake Riviera - Replacement of branch circuiting
• Vets Middle - Replace windows, unit ventilators and H&V units in Gym, Library and Wood Shop
• Vets Middle - Add Kitchen Hoods, GFI recpets and add lead filters and gas piping
• Vets Middle - Replace interior lighting in classrooms
• Vets Middle - Main Electrical panel, existing feeders and branch circuit wiring
• Vets Elementary - Replace gas piping, install hot water piping, lead filters
• Vets Elementary - Replace branch panels and wiring. Also, intercom
• Vets Elementary - Replace lighting in classrooms, hot water heater and exterior doors
• Vets Elementary - Replace metal facia and repair EFIS
• Vets Elementary - HVAC in Server Room
• Emma Havens - HVAC in Server Room
• Emma Havens - Plumbing, Gas Piping
• Emma Havens - Main Electrical Panels, branch circuiting. Also Exterior brick work
• Osbornville - Insulate hot and cold water piping. New lighting control system
• Osbornville - Replace gas piping, install hot water piping, lead filters
• Osbornville - HVAC in server room
• Midstreams - HVAC in Server Room
• Midstreams - Conversion of classrooms, replace gas piping, fix canopy soffit
• Midstreams - Replace main electrical system, branch panels. Also, repointing brick
• Midstreams - Replace exterior doors and interior lighting in classrooms
• Lanes Mill - HVAC in server room
• Lanes Mill - Replacement of branch panels, lead filters, gas piping
• Lanes Mill - Replace main electrical system and MDP

The school board has its next meeting, a pre-agenda session, scheduled for Aug. 10.