Committee will help design new Su Valley campus

TALKEETNA — Students, teachers and parents will consult with an architectural firm to help design the new Su Valley Jr./Sr. High campus.

The Building Design Committee was selected this week and will meet for the first time Sept. 18 with architect Michael P. Carlson of the Anchorage-based firm McCool Carlson Green. There may also be a community meeting that evening.

The old school burned to its concrete and cinder block foundation June 5 after a wind-whipped fire of unknown origin blasted through the school’s roof and burned above the fire sprinklers. The wood-framed school, which was more than three decades old, was being remodeled at the time and a new roof was being built.

The architect hopes to have a design before the school board on Dec. 5 and Mat-Su Borough Assembly approval on Dec. 18.

“Ideally, we would have started this last fall, not this fall,” Carlson said Wednesday, shortly after the Mat-Su Borough School District Board of Education approved his firm’s design bid over those from six other firms. The assembly could vote to approve the contract on Sept. 18.

The panel will meet eight times between Sept. 18 and Dec. 5, when a final schematic design may be decided. The committee could have its first look at an exterior design by Oct. 30.

“Every process is different,” Carson said. “We love working with groups.”

After the initial meeting focusing on the design process, goals and an analysis of the school’s site will hoMe in on what the community wants and needs from its new school.

Director of Maintenance Scott Schwald said the school district’s insurance company will replace the school with a “like kind” building. As long as the building is within 47,000 square feet — the size of the old structure — the insurer will cover construction whether the school eventually costs $9 million or $14 million.

The building can’t use the old concrete pad, which was damaged too much by the fire and must be removed. Nor is the architect restricted to building on the old schools’ footprint. The only restriction is the square footage.

Parent Teacher Student Association President Steve Hicks of Willow is part of the Building Design Committee. He hopes architects can keep to their ambitious timeline and help get the school open in time for the 2009 school year.

“I’d like to see a better layout. There was so much wasted space in the other one,” Hicks said of the new building.

Although he understands the school will be built to its old size, Hicks hopes the new design will include room for future growth in an area where subdivisions keep sprouting up. There are presently about 168 students, but Hicks thinks more will arrive in the coming years.

“I get a little upset with the ‘plan to fail’ that often falls on the schools,” Hicks said.

A pool is one feature many in the Su Valley community hope for. The nearest pool at Wasilla High School is 90 minutes away, making it impossible for Su Valley to have a swim team.

“I don’t know what the specifics are gong to be,” Carlson said.

McCool Carlson Green is no stranger to designing buildings for Alaska’s harsh climate. The firm has designed three schools, an office tower and the Nesbitt Courthouse in Anchorage.

One school board member seemed surprised by the project.

“Where’s Su Valley at? We’re going up beyond Houston, near Talkeetna?” asked board member Daniel Contini.

Students from the area between Willow and Trapper Creek attend Su Valley Jr./Sr. High.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or call 352-2270.