Architect presents costs on Fayette vo-tech school
An architect with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates Architects presented the cost to renovate, construct an addition or build a new Fayette County Vocational-Technical School. Joshua C. Bower, project manager with the architectural firm, presented the figures at the school’s joint operating committee meeting Monday.
According to Bower, renovating the current school located off Route 857 in Georges Township would cost $18.6 million; a renovation and 118,615-square-foot addition, $22 million; a renovation and a 138,615-square-foot addition, $26 million; constructing a new, 120,000-square-foot school, $30.7 million; and an 89,082-square-foot school, $24.9 million.
With state reimbursement factored in, renovation costs drop to $14.6 million; to renovate and add an 118,615-square-foot addition, $16.9 million; to renovate and add a 138,615-square-foot addition, $20.7 million; construct a new, 120,000-square-foot-school, $25.8 million; and construct a new, 89,082-square-foot school, $21 million.
State reimbursement would be received near the completion of a school building project as long as the state Department of Education approves paperwork associated with its 11-step application for reimbursement process.
A new building, said Bower, would be more energy efficient, allow the school to keep all of its current programs and have the “absolute” most minimal impact on students.
Closing programs or adding modular classrooms for extra space could take place with a renovation, Bower said.
He indicated that the sooner the board decides on a project, the least expensive the project may be.
It’s just a matter of time before construction costs, now at 1998-99 prices, will go up, he said.
Dr. Charles Machesky, superintendent of the Uniontown Area School District, asked that Bower provide each school district’s cost for each option and the amount of reimbursement each would receive.
Some districts will be asked to pay more for a project based on the district’s current market value. Laurel Highlands, for example, could pay 37 percent of any project, according to board member Angelo Giachetti.
Solicitor Gary Frankhouser said the district also will receive a higher amount of reimbursement.
“(A district) may benefit from one side, but it catches up on the other side,” Frankhouser said.
Laurel Highlands School Board member Jim Tobal asked Bower to research the value of the vo-tech and its land if those items were to be sold.
Albert Gallatin School Board member Edward Andria said he would not approve of selling the school and its land at this point.
Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates were asked in April to produce a facility study exploring possible project options. Constructing a school at another site was not included in the options.
Speaking from the audience before the presentation, Terry Ryan, a candidate for Albert Gallatin Area School Board in the Nov. 3 general election, said he polled 287 taxpayers in the Albert Gallatin School District, asking them if they favored building a new vocational-technical school.
The survey indicates that Albert Gallatin School District citizens favor renovating the current vo-tech and are not in favor of building a new school. If a new structure is built, they believe it should be built at the school’s current location, Ryan said.
He offered the results. He said of the 287 polled, 247 do not favor building a new school, 20 said they do favor building a new school and another 20 were undecided.
If the joint operating committee decided to build a new structure, 280 said they favor locating it at the present site, while six were not in favor of building it at the present site and one was undecided.
Addressing the half-day schedule students currently operate under, Ryan said 18 of 20 taxpayers who were related to a student attending the vo-tech said they were unhappy with the present schedule and would rather return to the former schedule where students attended the school for half of school year and their home high school for the other half of the year.
“When (the board) decided to do (the half-day schedule), the board didn’t listen to the people. I guess I wanted to know what the citizens felt about the new school and they surely told me,” Ryan said.
Uniontown Area School Board member Harry “Dutch” Kaufman and Albert Gallatin School Board member Michael Dunham were absent from Monday’s meeting.