Huntley High School expansion set to begin in spring

Starting next spring, Huntley High School will get a $35 million facelift that includes a new field house, a redesigned main entrance, reconfigured parking lots and new classrooms and science labs.

Plans were presented to the Huntley District 158 school board earlier this month. They include designs for a new library in a renovated gym space, a larger cafeteria and multiple common areas. The addition is needed to accommodate future growth as a swell of students moves up the grades, officials said.

Huntley High School — built in 1996 to house 300 students — has seen multiple additions as enrollment has climbed to roughly 2,700 students. The school’s student population is expected to peak at 3,000 as early as the 2016-2017 school year.

Yet, the core areas and infrastructure of the school were never updated, Superintendent John Burkey said.

“We had the worst athletic facilities in our conference,” he said. “Now we have a chance to upgrade those facilities.”

New bleachers, an artificial turf football field, and a new irrigation system for the baseball and soccer fields were added this past summer.

The project is being funded through a $39 million construction grant from the state that was 10 years overdue, Burkey said.

What’s leftover from the grant will likely be used to abate taxes — $1 million in taxes were abated last February using that money — and bolster the district’s fund balance until another use is identified, officials said.

The school board is expected to approve construction bids in March, with work beginning by late spring and completed over two years.

Parking lot work will begin first. Crews will start building the field house on the southeast corner of the school by the summer, and work on the new main entrance, cafeteria and library will be done later.

Traffic improvements also will be made as part of the project, potentially involving temporary traffic signals at Main Street and Marengo Road, and at Harmony and Hemmer roads, improvements at exits along Harmony, and a new road east of the school leading to a new student parking lot.