Dist. 59 talks cost, size of new center
A longtime Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board member says the district's proposed administration center is too big and too costly, though administrators disagree.
During a review of building plans at a district facilities planning and advisory committee meeting Monday night, board member Mardell Schumacher pointed to the dozen or so meeting rooms in the two-story, 40,000-square-foot building as too many.
And the current estimated $12.3 million cost to build it, Schumacher said, is "more than anybody anticipated."
"I think it comes down to needs and desires," Schumacher said. "I'm one who believes taxpayers deserve to give what is needed, not what everyone wants."
The amount of meeting space in the new building, planned for the former Lively Junior High School site at 999 Leicester Road in Elk Grove Village, doubles what the district currently has at its existing administration building at 2123 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.
Plans for the new building include two professional development rooms of some 800 square feet each and a boardroom of 1,700 square feet, all of which can be subdivided into smaller spaces.
Superintendent Art Fessler said the additional space is needed to conduct teacher training sessions on instructional strategies and technology. Right now, he said there isn't enough space for larger meetings at the administration building.
"We're basing this design on the experiences we're having right now with 15 schools, 7,000 kids and 1,000 staff members," Fessler said. "We're planning for the space we need."
Some of the meeting rooms would be available for use by the public, he added.
Of the estimated $12.3 million cost, the price to construct the administration building itself is $9 million, a kitchen commissary for making students lunches is as much as $2 million, and the remainder are fees for architects, construction managers and costs to move, officials said.
District officials have said all along that new building could cost anywhere from $8 million to $11 million, depending on whether the kitchen was included in plans. The district plans to convert an existing storage space it owns on the west side of the Elk Grove Park District Pavilion into the kitchen.
Schumacher said she'd like to see ways that costs can be cut, since $12.3 million is "way more than we talked about."
The district plans to fund construction through reserves and proceeds from a sale of its current building and neighboring former Wellington banquets property on Arlington Heights Road. The school board has proposed a $4.8 million minimum purchase price as part of sealed bid process that will conclude July 5.
Once a building footprint is finalized, District 59 will officially submit plans to Elk Grove Village and apply for a special-use permit and stormwater permits.
Plans are to begin construction in October and conclude in July 2017.