The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 8, 2009

UPDATE: Hadley option costs less than Case, architect says

By Courtney L. Anderson

SHARON — Molly Bundrant bought her home on Case Avenue so she can watch her young daughter walk to school, Mrs. Bundrant told school board members Wednesday night after a presentation about the possible fate of the aging Case Avenue Elementary building.

“Don’t take that away from me,” Mrs. Bundrant said.

Cassandra Renninger of Eckles Architects, New Castle, presented details about two options for the project that the board is still considering — tearing down the current school and rebuilding at the same site or buying the former Hadley Elementary on Boyd Drive and adding on.

Ms. Renninger presented pros and cons for each option, price ranges and time frames for construction.

Renovating the Hadley building and adding about 65,000 square feet of space would take 20 months and cost $19.3 million to $20.8 million.

Building in two phases at Case, mostly in what is now a parking lot, would take 32 months and cost $22.3 million to $24.2 million. Plans for this site would have to be pared down for financial reasons, Superintendent John Sarandrea said.

The district can borrow up to $22 million, has a little over $1 million in savings and has been told there’s about $600,000 in federal stimulus money available for the project, Sarandrea said.

“We’re looking to pay for the building project with 10 mills of taxes over time,” Sarandrea said.

Taxes for 2009-2010 were raised 2 mills specifically for the project.

Both options include the $700,000 cost of tearing down the Case building and constructing a gymnasium sized for high school use. Renninger said that they looked at incorporating the current Case gym into a new structure, but there are structural concerns and construction around it might make it more unstable.

Disadvantages to rebuilding at the Case site is the congestion during construction and that it would take longer. The downside for relocating the school to Hadley is that it’s farther for students on the south and west sides of the district to walk to and it’s on the Hermitage line.

Architects expect to take bids in fall 2010 on either project.

Though it may be more costly and inconvenient, “I think most people prefer Case,” Sam Messina said.

Mary Carol Cunningham agreed.

“It just makes sense,” she said. “You’re right here. Why would you send kids so far away?”

“I would really like the Hadley option if it were not so illogical,” Ed Palanski said.

Mrs. Bundrant said that the $4 million difference in the two options seems “like a drop in the bucket at this point” and noted that people are willing to deal with the short-term inconvenience if it means the school will remain in the same place.

Matt Grove asked what happened to the possibility of a modest renovation of the current building for about $10 million, something mentioned in an independent study of the building done by RCI Architects, New Castle.

Sarandrea said that renovating was ruled out because of the risk of what further problems with infrastructure might be uncovered once construction was underway.

If the district moves the school east, Sarandrea said the board might have to discuss busing, though they’re under no legal obligation to do so unless the service already exists for some students. There are currently students who live on the West Hill who walk more than 1.25 miles to the high school.

No timeline for a decision was given at the meeting, but Sarandrea said they’re moving forward quickly.

“I think it borders on negligence, not coming up with a plan very, very soon,” Sarandrea said.

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