The Conewago Valley school board debated rising site development cost estimates for a proposed elementary school renovation project during a meeting on Monday.
The board held a back-to-back study session and regular voting meeting. Much of the board’s discussion centered around an earlier presentation by representatives with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, the architectural design firm the district has been working with for the project. The firm showed the board updated site plans, cost estimates and project schedules during a presentation on Aug. 5.
During the meeting on Aug. 5, Anthony Colestock, a representative who has been working with the district, told the board that current estimates for extensively renovating the district’s elementary schools are about $8.4 million higher than the initial schematic design estimate.
The bulk of the higher figure is due to site work costs running higher than anticipated, with Conewago Township Elementary site work estimates coming in at $2.2 million more than expected and New Oxford Elementary site work estimates rising to $3.8 million above the original estimate. The remainder of the increased estimate is primarily a result of higher estimates for brick and mortar at NOE, according to Colestock.
Project estimates will continue to change as the planning continues, but additional suggested changes, as well as receiving bids that help provide more targeted estimates, are some factors.
According to Colestock, the site engineer bumped the site work estimate from about $2.1 to $6 million due to site work necessary to level out the site, bringing it up about 4-5 feet to match the current elevation of the kindergarten wing of NOE. Engineers are investigating the possibility of utilizing dirt from the district’s farm property to minimize the distance contractors would need to travel rather than having them drive further to source fill dirt, potentially tamping down the rising costs, according to Colestock.
A separate representative for the district’s construction manager described the area as “a bit of a bowl” that necessitated water mitigation, as well as raising to align it with the road. Should dirt from the district’s farm property prove suitable as fill dirt for the site, and if that path gains board approval, the pricetag for site development could experience less of an increase.
There is still the possibility that the contingency amounts could be reduced as the project progresses, according to Colestock.
Colestock’s presentation recapped previous stages of the building schedule as well as outlinging upcoming plans.
In January, programming and conceptual design was performed for CTE, and from February through May was focused on the schematic design. Since June, the district and firm have been working through the design development phase, which is expected to last through about November. Construction documents would likely be readied from December through March 2025, with actual construction beginning sometime in May or June 2025, according to the schedule showed by Colestock.
NOE is on a similar schedule, with programming and conceptual design completed in January and the schematic design phase running from February through August. According to the schedule, the NOE design development stage would run from September through March 2025, with construction documentation completed in April through July. Actual construction would likely begin in summer 2025.
On Monday evening, a week after the presentation, some board members expressed concerns with the rising site development estimates.
Board member William Getz worried about “escalating costs” associated with the project and wondered whether the price tag will continue to increase. Getz encouraged others on the board to continue to seek ways to save money.
As he did during Colestock’s presentation, board president Jeffrey Kindschuh said that while the estimates were higher than hoped, the process is going as expected.
“We’ve started broad base with the funnel and we’re getting more information,” Kindschuh said. “The handout we received last week, it does start to break out the different types of expenses. We did know that the site costs were kind of the unknown in the briefings that we’ve had. I won’t say, ‘unknown.’ There was potential for escalation there.”
Superintendent Sharon Perry and Kindschuh reiterated that the board will receive more frequent updates as the information becomes more reliable. As estimates and expectations are fine-tuned, the board will gain more insight into the anticipated costs will become more clear.
At that point, armed with more precise information, the board will formally decide on a firm direction for the project.
Kindschuh told the board that the projected project costs are still at or under the national average for similar projects.
Without results from the analysis of the potential fill dirt from the farm, Kindschuh reminded the board that a significant portion of the site development costs are still unknown.
“We’ve overcome, in my mind, one of the unknowns, which was the site prep,” Kindschuh said. “That was something that we knew there was a risk to escalate. We had asked our vendor to go back and take a look at some options for dealing with the largest cost, which is the moving of the dirt to level the field. We’ll see what they come back with.”
While some board members continued to voice concerns that the amount of proposed site development may not be structurally necessary or adds unforeseen expenses, Perry said additional site development will be necessary to fix traffic issues and address safety.
“We’re not hiding costs. We’re not adding costs,” Perry said. “These are costs that (Colestock) was very clear about throughout our feasibility study. Every presentation has a disclaimer: ‘Does not include site development costs.’ It’s been very transparent to our community.”
Perry reminded the board and community that no final decisions have yet been made, and that there will be additional data to consider before the district moves forward.
“I would just ask, just breathe it in and hold onto it until we can get more information, until we can really firm up those numbers for you, because it’s a shocking number,” Perry said. “I certainly understand. I think that our entire community is behind that nobody wants to spend that additional money. But I do want to reiterate that (Colestock) was very transparent about that from the very beginning that, in fact, this does not include site development costs. So if we decide that’s not the option that we want to go forward with, we’re still in that zone where we don’t have to move forward with that.
In addition to discussing the building project and new teacher induction, the board approved the handbook for the high school online academy, a list of volunteers and substitute teachers, and other matters.
The board held two executive sessions on Monday, one prior to the meetings and one after, in order to discuss personnel, according to Kindschuh.
The next study session will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9 in the district office.
An orientation for new staff will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, with a regular board meeting will following at 7:30 p.m. Both will be held in the district office.
Imari Scarbrough is a freelance journalist. She was a staff newspaper reporter for five years before becoming a freelancer in 2017. She has written on crime, environmental issues, severe weather events, local and regional government and more.
You can visit her website at ImariJournal.com.