ML school board mulls design for new school

MOSES LAKE — The 12th Moses Lake School District elementary school will be located in Mae Valley and will resemble Groff Elementary but will cost more. A schematic design of the proposed school was presented to the Moses Lake School Board at its regular meeting Thursday.

Matt Whitish of Design West, the principal architect on the project, estimated the current cost at about $33.9 million if district officials decide to implement some of the changes suggested by staff to the existing Groff Elementary design. There’s also an option to add eight classrooms. If district officials decide to do that, Whitish said, the construction estimate is about $38.5 million.

In answer to a question from district Superintendent Monty Sabin, Whitish said that estimate is just for construction and doesn’t include expenses for things like furniture, known as soft costs.

“The rates that you’re seeing here are significantly higher than we had at Groff,” he said. “Those are, unfortunately, the rates that we are seeing on current projects.”

Chief Operations Officer Jeremy O’Neil wrote that Groff Elementary actually came in under budget.

“The original budget was $29,968,489, which included land acquisition costs,” O’Niel wrote in response to an email from the Herald. “Our current forecast is that at completion, Groff will run $27,389,402.”

Whitish said the next task will be finalizing the design, then preparing construction documents. The project should be ready for bid by the end of the summer, he said.

There are still disruptions in the construction industry, he said, which could affect the building schedule. But he forecast the contract could be awarded by the end of 2023, with groundbreaking in spring 2024 and the building completed in time for the 2025-26 school year.

“That’s a very comfortable construction schedule that does provide some buffer for unknowns and potential procurement delays,” Whitish said.

The new elementary hasn’t been named. Sabin said there’s a policy for that, and district officials will be working through that process.

The new school will be located at the intersection of Road 4 and Westshore Drive Northeast which, Whitish said, is in the process of being purchased by the district. The new school will be located in the property’s southwest corner.

“The location (of the building) on the parcel was somewhat defined by the need to add a new road,” he said.

“We’re looking at 14 acres needed to meet the program requirements for the school,” he said. “The program includes all your grass playfields, hard surface play areas (and) also similar parking configurations to what they have at Groff.”

The new school uses the same basic design as Groff Elementary, although Whitish said district officials have suggested some modifications.

“One of the nice things about having a prototype design, especially one the district has constructed and spent a year living in, is that we’ve been able to learn some lessons,” Whitish said.

The parent pickup and dropoff route will be bigger, the heating-cooling system will be modified and access to the kitchen was changed to make it easier to deliver food. District officials have the option to increase the size of the gym, the kitchen and multipurpose room, kindergarten rooms and administration area. Whitish said those changes will allow room for expansion when district officials decide to add the eight classrooms, whether during initial construction or later.

Classrooms on the second floor will be enlarged slightly, and windows will be made slightly smaller.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.