CCHS renovation could start in October

The two-year renovation project at Culpeper County High School is expected to get underway in October.

At least, that’s what Hunter Spencer, director of facilities, planning and construction for Culpeper County Public Schools, told the CCHS Renovation Oversight Committee during Thursday’s inaugural meeting.

Spencer added that a representative from the Baltimore-based design firm Hord Coplan Macht agreed to the school system’s timeline.

“In fact, it’s even faster,” Spencer told the committee. “He has adjusted his contract as such. He has the project finishing in late summer 2014.”

SHW Group provided CCPS with this timeline in November 2009 as part of the school’s master construction plan scope study.

“This outlines the things that need to be fixed or replaced,” continued Spencer, referring to the multi-page notebook filled with the project’s master plan scope study, timeline and educational specifications.

Earlier this month, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors approved $1.068 million so the school board could secure a design contract with Hord Coplan Macht to provide general architectural and engineering services.

In November, Culpeper voters approved a $21 million bond ($20 million in construction costs and $1 million in bond costs) in order to repair the 42-year-old aging school.

The architectural firm will provide a presentation to the oversight committee on March 15.

“We want to be able to get where we can approve any concept and let them continue,” Spencer explained. “This committee will review each step of the design. And at the end of it, [it’ll] approve what’s presented or approve changes to make sure it’s consistent. This committee will also make recommendations to the school board.”

Spencer informed the committee that this process will move quickly.

“The schedule is very aggressive,” he said. “We think it’s doable. And this firm that we’ve chosen thinks it can do it.”

If possible, Spencer hopes to include a geothermal field design at CCHS in order to save money on future utility costs.

“We’re hoping with the economy now and the status of the construction industry, we’ll be able to get prices to include a geothermal field,” Spencer added.

Larry Aylor — a committee member, a board of supervisor who represents the Cedar Mountain District, and local construction contractor — said it’s certainly possible to install geothermal power at a reasonable price now.

Built in 1969, CCHS is filled with obsolete mechanical rooms, accessibility issues, original electrical and plumbing and an aging auditorium and cafeteria.

“The building is 40 years old and there’s just a lot of things that don’t work in there anymore,” Spencer continued, adding that the building is structurally sound.

The $20 million renovation would repair the school’s windows, doors, bathrooms, wiring, plumbing, ductwork, flooring, cafeteria, gym and fire alarm cabling and upgrade the accessibility issues.

This renovation, however, won’t include any work on the school’s 2002 addition.

Elizabeth Hutchins, a school board member who represents the Cedar Mountain District and committee member, said the purpose of the renovation is to make the school a more efficient building.

“So we’ll be saving energy and we’ll save the taxpayer in the long run, but also make it more up-to-date as far as instruction for the teachers,” said Hutchins, explaining that there are certainly places in the school that won’t support more than a few computers at the same time.

George Dasher, school board member who represents the Stevensburg District and committee member, said this building has never been completely renovated.

“So all of the systems that are there are from the 1960s,” he said. “There are a lot of obsolete parts.”

Community member Michael Armm had two specific questions for Spencer.

First, he wanted to know if the quote was indeed a guaranteed maximum price and if the school division would obtain a separate owner’s contingency fund.

“If you come up with programming changes along the way, are you going to have an owner’s contingency fund where you can put extra dollars in,” Armm asked. “If you decided, we’ll we need another set of doors here and the contractor doesn’t use his contingency, you have to use yours. You need an owner’s contingency.”

Spencer said he’s trying to figure all of that out now.

“Because we believe we know what those programming changes are,” he responded.

Spencer also clarified that there’s “a small one in there,” referring to the school division’s contingency plan.

Dasher also repeated at the meeting that the $21 million bond is solely for the CCHS renovation.

“If we are fortunate to come under on these numbers, we can’t use this money for something else,” Dasher made clear.

This project will be conducted in four phases, allowing students to continue attending school without interruption.

Getting organized

Before Thursday’s meeting, Spencer informed the board that they would need a chair and vice chair to conduct the meetings.

The committee selected local businessman Joe Daniel as chairman of the CCHS Renovation Oversight Committee and Annemarie Steimel as vice chairwoman.

Although, Daniel didn’t make Thursday’s meeting, Dasher told the group he called Daniel before the meeting to ask if it was OK to nominate him.

Daniel accepted.