The North Royalton School District Building project is in full swing. “Work is progressing on our two construction sites, said North Royalton School Superintendent Greg Gurka. At the new elementary school property, located at the southwest corner of State Road and Valley Parkway, work has begun to construct the new school. “The first phase of this was to have specific trees cut down that will become the footprint of the building,” said Gurka. “Our goal is to keep as many of the existing trees on the site as possible while still allowing us to construct the building and the driveways.”
As the summer progresses, the district will finalize bids, as well as the guaranteed maximum price with Hammond Construction. Construction is expected to begin some time in July. The district is making plans for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new elementary school building at the beginning of the new school year.
The project had been placed on hold as the district waited for permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and one through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The additional permits required were due to the wetlands on the school’s building site. It was determined that the property’s wetlands had grown to over a half an acre from 2001 when the Army Corp of Engineers conducted a study that outlined the wetlands on that site. The District contracted with an environmental consulting firm, to perform a wetland delineation study. It previously had this study completed in 2001 which showed limited wetland impact. The May 2017 study confirmed the findings of the 2001 study. The District proceeded with the permit processes for land with minimal wetland impact. The next step in the process was for the Army Corps of Engineers to confirm the wetland study. In late May of 2018, the Army Corps delineated an increased wetland impact. With the additional amount of wetlands, additional permits were required.
Due to the delay, the construction of the new elementary school had to be pushed up from August 2020 to August 2021. Even though the district was able to get the tree clearing in at this time, the later time line is still in place. “We will open in August of 2021. The original date was August, 2020.
The High School renovation is well on its way, with the groundbreaking, which took place on April 6. Gurka thanks students and parents for their patience with new parking situations and traffic patterns, due to the High School parking lot being taken over for construction staging. Gurka said that site work is currently taking place for the new 100,000 square foot addition.
“The new addition will be complete for the start of the 2020 school year. The renovations will be completed in phases. Work this summer will be the PAC/Gym 1 fire suppression systems and some HVAC work. Additionally this summer, there will be sanitary and storm sewer work and repaving of the rear parking lot. The major renovations will begin in the summer of 2020 and the project will be complete late fall of 2021,” said Gurka.
Progress on both of these projects can be followed on Twitter and Facebook by using #NRBuildingGreat. Comments and questions are also welcome by calling Gurka at 440-582-9030, or emailing him at greg.gurka@northroyaltonsd.org.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer