Since the passage of the School Bond last May, the North Royalton School Administrators and School Board have been busy with the groundwork that will result in a new elementary school building and other updated buildings. “We as an organization have to go through a certain procedure,” said Assistant School Superintendent Jim Presot.
The preliminary report on a wetland study on the property has been received. Less than an acre of total wetlands are located on the property in various locations. The placement of the building and parking lots will be dictated by these areas. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Ohio EPA will review the reports, who will then rule on them to see which agency the district will work with. That agency will determine the method of mitigation, said Presot. Possible methods could be by utilizing other areas of the property, purchasing other wetland property, or paying money into a land bank to purchase future wetland property.
The selection of architect is in full swing. The Board had posted the request for qualifications and recommendation of the top four given to the Board. The Board has ranked them and has authorized the administration and legal counsel to sit down and negotiate a contract. If they cannot negotiate the terms with the top ranked architectural firm, then they will go down the list of four. Presot said that they would like to have the contract in place in September.
Ten submittals have been received for the Construction Manager. Three to five firms will be chosen for interview, which will take place later his month. They will be ranked at the Board’s September meeting. A contract for the Construction Manager is expected in October, according to Presot. “The district will utilize the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) delivery method which includes a commitment by a Construction Manager to deliver the project within a Guaranteed Maximum Price, based on construction documents and specifications,” according to district officials. “The CMAR provides professional services and consults in the design development and construction phases.” School Superintendent Greg Gurka noted that, “there are many benefits from using a Construction Manager including an increased level of cost control from the start. In the meantime, we will meet with the Community Facilities Advisory Committee to review timelines and begin the first steps in maintaining our commitment to the community.”
“Once we are confident that we have our architect on board, the community engagement/educational envisioning will take place,” said Presot. “We’ll utilize some of our existing groups. If a resident is interested in participating, they can submit their names to the administration by emailing AskNorthRoyaltonSchools@northroyaltonsd.org. “We will try to get as many people involved as possible.”
“At that point various groups within the community will come together to discuss what the building will look like, as well as the other attributes of the school. The architect will then develop the design concepts of the buildings. We will probably be in design for a good five to seven months. There will probably be some sort of rollout meeting of the all the projects after the design phase is complete. “We are building a strong foundation, both in education and facilities and there will be opportunities for us to have dialogue with our residents throughout every step of the process,” said Gurka.
“The best case scenario is to be putting shovels in the ground late summer/early fall of next year,” said Presot. “We are hopeful to be in the new elementary building in the fall of 2020,” said Presot. “The construction of the Middle School, end of summer of 2020 and the High School, because it will have to be done in phases, is going to be 2020/2021 time line.”
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer