PEARCY -- The Lake Hamilton School Board on Tuesday approved the construction of a $2.4 million multipurpose facility at its elementary school that will also serve as an EF3-rated tornado safe room shelter.
J.J. Humphries, district assistant superintendent, said during Tuesday night's monthly board meeting that the elementary school is the only school on campus that does not have a gymnasium/multipurpose facility.
Hill and Cox Construction will build the approximately 5,290-square-foot building at a guaranteed maximum price of $2,457,935. The district is using local building funds to pay for the addition, which will be located at the south end of the building and is expected to be complete by August 2024.
"This is a hardened structure, so we have a concrete bed and things of that nature. It'll take approximately a year to construct. I would anticipate ... it truly could be done as early as December, but probably August of the following year is probably what you'd need to schedule for," Brian Hill, president of Hill and Cox, said at the meeting.
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A hardened facility is designed and constructed to survive well beyond a typical building under potentially catastrophic events.
Along with the safe room functionality, the building will have a basketball gymnasium with adjustable goals, and a stage for school assemblies and other events.
"Our second- and third-grade students will enjoy having this addition to their building to serve as a dedicated physical education space, as well as other building-wide celebrations and performances since it will be equipped with a portable staging system," Brian Bridges, district director of communications and public relations, said.
Constructed at the south end, Hill noted there is a quarter way that comes down through the middle of the elementary school. He said the addition will tie into the quarter way somewhat.
"It sits a little bit off of the building so that it gets the structure it needs," he said. "Unfortunately, we had a primary power line that comes through in that area. We also had some auxiliary power lines that came through there. We had to move a few things, but in any existing campus that's been around for quite some time, that's pretty normal. Unfortunately, it (takes) money to move it."
He said there was not a better location, however, as they tried to find a more economical spot and could not. Due to the current volatility of the market, he noted it is "difficult to be safe in construction" from a pricing perspective.
"We had a lot of participants from a lot of different subcontractors in this bid, so we got best prices for what's drawn. So we're pleased with the outcome that we have on the bids," he said.
Lake Hamilton Superintendent Shawn Higginbotham said the district used the most economical approach -- looking at both FEMA grant funding and state participation partnership funding -- neither of which yielded a lower number.
He said the figure is highly dependent on the "label" of the building itself. A dedicated gym or physical education facility would have required more square footage. This not only would have cost the district more money, but more space, as well.
"This suits our needs, and this has been on the slate for a long time," he said.
Humphries noted when the building is complete, around 35-36 parking spots will have been lost but repositioned in other areas. He said he met with Kevin Catlett, elementary school principal, and Donald Westerman, high school principal, because it will affect teachers' parking.
Most of the high school student parking will be moved to the back two parking lots. This will create additional room for elementary teacher parking, he said, while the junior high front parking lot and the elementary front parking lot provide more room for student/teacher parking.