The Mechanicsburg Area School Board this week reviewed submitted contractor bids for a planned building renovation project at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School that district officials say came in significantly lower than the project’s original projected costs.
Last month, Mechanicsburg school directors approved advertising for contractor bids for renovations to the exiting high school building, a project district officials began discussing more than a year ago.
The project is separate from a $24 million expansion currently in progress at the school. The building was constructed in 1968, with additions and renovations done in 1981 and 2001.
As it turned out, submitted bids for high school renovation plans total $39,449,015, including project soft costs. The sum is about $5.1 million less than what the district originally projected, Greg Longwell, the district’s director of business operations/CFO, told The Sentinel Wednesday.
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Architectural renderings for the project presented earlier this year included “light” renovations to the high school’s two-story classroom wings that would involve new flooring, lighting and painting in all rooms. Plans also involved replacing the school’s roof and food service equipment and upgrading its mechanical, plumbing, electrical and security systems and technology access.
At that time, project architect Brian Haines said projected costs had been reduced to between $45 million and $48 million by “strategizing of how and where” project money was spent.
The project’s scope then was further revised after Superintendent Mark Leidy said in August that the project’s estimated costs had risen by roughly 20% due to inflation.
In October, district officials presented options that reduced the total estimated project price by nearly $5 million to $48.5 million. Approved cost-cutting options included reducing the scope of kitchen and cafeteria renovations and re-coating the high school’s roof rather than replacement.
The school board is scheduled to vote on the total project Dec. 13.
District officials remained undecided this week, however, about which option to select for pool renovations at the high school. Choices were to replace or renovate the high school’s pool. Replacing the pool would cost an estimated $7.8 million, while renovations would total $2.5 million.
Proposed renovations involve raising the water level and replacing the filtration system and pool deck. Replacement would provide eight pool lanes but would require further design work.
Ultimately, the board decided to include the pool renovation option as a bid alternate in the district’s bidding advertisement.
“The final piece of the high school (renovation project) is the new pool option. We will continue working on this option and bid this separately… If you add together the cost of the renovation and the cost of a new pool, we are still within our target project budget amount of $50,000,000,” Longwell said Wednesday.
Support for construction project
In other news, the Mechanicsburg Area School Board Tuesday reviewed a proposed resolution authorizing contributions by the district to support a building construction project at Cumberland Perry Area Career and Technology Center.
According to the resolution, the career and technology center “desires” to undertake a construction-renovation project to “improve” its facilities in Silver Spring Township at an estimated cost of $23.5 million. The resolution further states that project expenses “shall be divided among (the center’s sponsoring) member school districts” proportionate to each district’s weighted five-year student attendance average.
Longwell said that 98 Mechanicsburg students currently are enrolled at CPACTC and that the district’s proposed contribution to project costs “works out to the approximate amount of $141,000 annually.”
“The (Mechanicsburg) School Board was supportive of the plan. The project will provide additional capacity for student enrollment, which will help to alleviate the waiting lists that exist for a variety of programs at the CTC… The project also will enhance existing programs there,” he said.
School boards representing each of the center’s member school districts must approve the same resolution before project work moves forward. The center is sponsored by 13 school districts in Cumberland, Perry and York counties. Along with Cumberland Valley, other sponsoring Cumberland County districts include Big Spring, Camp Hill, East Pennsboro, Mechanicsburg Area, and South Middleton. West Shore School District is in both Cumberland and York counties.
CPACTC administrative director Justin Bruhn told The Sentinel Monday that the building expansion and renovation project is needed “to make sure our school has the facilities that can continue to provide career and technical program opportunities for the next generation.”
Since 2011, CPACTC enrollment has increase by 40% to a current total of 1,270 with 300 additional students remaining on the school’s waitlist. Bruhn said the school also seeks additional building space to initiate several new career programs such as pre-engineering, building and property management, and emergency management.
The school also plans additional room for several existing programs, including welding, automobile technology, auto collision, and advanced manufacturing.
The same resolution for CPACTC project funding contributions by member districts was approved by the Cumberland Valley School Board on Nov. 14. Bruhn said Monday that he was uncertain of which of the school’s other member districts were yet to approve the resolution.
The Mechanicsburg Area School Board is expected to vote on the resolution Dec. 13.
Bruhn said that if the contribution resolution is approved by all member districts by December, the project could break ground in Spring, 2024, following by a phasing introduction of new programs in Fall, 2025.