District: $17.9M for new Su Valley

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Borough School District Board of Education has finalized an insurance estimate of rebuilding Su Valley Jr./Sr. High School and its site at about $17.9 million. Whether the district’s insurance company will approve the full amount to rebuild the school that burned June 5 is still yet to be determined.

Project architect Michael Carlson of the Anchorage-based firm McCool, Carlson, Green has begun drafting the final plans for the new school with construction scheduled to begin in the spring.

Numerous public meetings were held and the $17.9 million number is a bare-bones cost of basic school building replacement, district officials say. Other add-on amenities, like a hockey rink, would be extra.

Now, school board members say, it’s up to the insurance company to approve the costs.

Representatives of Marsh & McLennan Insurance Co. and the Mat-Su Borough Public Works Department will meet Jan. 15 to discuss the project, its price tag and reach a decision about how much, if not all, the insurance company will cover.

Jim Colver, Mat-Su school board member, said now is the time to move and make a decision.

“We’re being optimistic,” Colver said. “The $17.9 million is a good number, very doable, even though it means making some cuts in the plans.”

Colver said additional amenities costing around $900,000 would include another bike path leading to the Parks Highway, additional parking and driving paths, an ice rink and a fire safety tank. These items would likely not be paid for by any insurance settlement.

Colver said the state Department of Education has moved the Su-Valley High School project to the top of its priority list and has allowed for overall costs of up to $27 million for the project. Any expenses and additions above what the insurance settlement is for would be split, with the Borough paying 30 percent and the state 70 percent, he said, adding the school board and Borough are confident the insurance company will cover the $17.9 million proposal.

“The school will be built by summer ’09,” said Bob Bechtold, project manager for the Mat-Su Borough Public Works department. “In every construction job there’s an issue with money.”

Bechtold said he believes negotiations with Marsh & McLennan will go smoothly, even though additional costs will have to be looked at to open the school’s doors.

“We’ll still have construction management costs, school art, resources, equipment,” he said. “Basically, we’ll need money to fill the school after the structure is built. But we should be well within the school district’s $27 million mark.”

The school board has already approved the design of the new 50,000-square-foot building. Colver said there are additional Su-Valley funds, just under $2 million, the Legislature set aside two years ago to help fix a section of the old Su-Valley building’s roof. He hopes this money will be reallocated to help the district cover its 30 percent cost to adding additional amenities, like the ice rink and bike path.

“I’m hopeful that the governor herself would want to cut through the red tape to use that money,” Colver said. “But with the legislative session process that way it is, my fear is that it wouldn’t be made available for the new building.”

The Borough and school district would rather receive the $2 million originally budgeted for roofing to add amenities the community has said it wants in a new school without having to go to taxpayers. He said a proposed school swimming pool, that was suggested early in the planning process, has been shelved for now.

“The pool is a stand-alone project, not part of the design,” he said.

Colver said that if Marsh & McLennan fights the $17.9 million replacement cost estimate for construction, Su-Valley students could be left out in the cold while the Borough would be forced to front 30 percent of the total costs.

“That could be messy,” he said. “If the construction schedule is thrown off, costs are going to be escalated. The costs goes up if a project is delayed. It wouldn’t be good public relations. It’s been since June, and it is time for the insurance company to step up. We’ll just hope for the best and plan for the worst.”

With construction scheduled to break ground in May or June 2008, the new Su Valley Jr./Sr. High School is planned to be open for students for the 2009-2010 school year.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.