Mon Feb 25 2013, 6:00pm
District Meeting Room Portable
Regular Meeting

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Update on Yale Project Status

Over the course of the last several months we have been in the planning process for a new gym at Yale School.   We operated under conclusions made in early conversations with the county we believed construction of a new gym, vs substantial remodel of the current facility at Yale would be cost comparable.  We therefore proceeded down the path of building a new gym, closer to the existing school.   About one month ago, in a meeting with County building officials we learned that our understanding of what needed to be done, particularly involving sprinkling of the new gym, was incorrect and would, in fact, be cost prohibitive to pursue.   

Following this meeting I asked the architect to review the Cowlitz Building Officials review of the code.   He did so, and affirmed the Officials' interpretation of code.  He further explored to code relative to a substantial remodel of the current facility.  He did so and found that the information provided by the county was incorrect.   He summarized the review of the code in a letter to the county which was delivered on February 1st under my signature.   On Wednesday, 2/20 Eric and I met with the county officials and they concurred with Eric's analysis.   If we stay within the footprint of the current gym we will not be required to provide about one quarter of a million dollars in sprinkling, fire flow pumps, storage tanks, three phase power, diesel pump backup system, etc.

In the meeting we discussed the scope of remodel extensively.  The plan will continue to be explored, but will likely result in an essentially new gymnasium on the same footprint, likely using many of the same studs and trusses.   Changes may even include tearing out footings and replacing them, reorienting the entryway, and many other changes.

At this point in time we have four choices:

1) Proceed with a substantial remodel within the same footprint of the Gym
2) Revise the plans for a new Gym to fit within budget parameters, with required fire suppression.  This would be a much smaller facility with few if any furnishing upgrades.
3) Delay the Yale project until after the WHS project to determine if there is additional capacity for the larger scale project.
4) Significantly reduce the scope of the project at WHS and use savings to fund a new gym.

I have attached four documents for your review.
• Yale Gym Floor Plan Rendering and Yale Gym -Rendering (final) are documents presented to voters prior to the election
• Yale Gym Architect Sketch is a document we shared with County Building Officials last week.
• Charlie Duncan Letter is the code analysis presented to the county and agreed upon by them.

On March 6th Eric and I will be meeting with the community at Yale and discussing the problem and options.   My hope is to have further direction from the board prior to that meeting.

Attached Files:
Charlie Duncan Letter.pdf application/pdf 1M
Yale Gym Architecht Sketch.pdf application/pdf 781K
Yale Gym - Floor Plan Rendering (final).jpg image/jpeg 929K
Yale Gym - Rendering (final).jpg image/jpeg 2M