Houston Middle construction possibly delayed

HOUSTON — The construction of Houston Middle School may be delayed again before it ever gets started.

The school that has not housed students since the November earthquake in 2018 was slated for a bid to be posted this spring with an estimated reopening for the fall semester of 2022, but Mat-Su Borough Manager Mike Brown said that the lack of a determination from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on their “50 percent rule” could delay the construction 6-12 months.

“FEMA is not giving us a timeline for when it will make its determination. Our currently available funding remains at $23.5 million for construction of the new school. The expected construction cost estimate is approximately $34 million, so we’ve got about a $10 million gap right now that’s unfunded. We continue to actively negotiate an additional insurance settlement that should reduce this amount further and until we have that FEMA determination, the borough will not have sufficient funding to issue construction bid or award a construction contract. As it seems unlikely we will have a FEMA determination this month we notified the school district that if bidding does not begin in March, it is very likely that the construction of the new school will be delayed,” said Brown.

Demolition on the building began last December and Houston students have been attending Houston Jr./Sr. High School since 2018 as the two schools combined under one roof with additional portable classrooms. Brown noted that the borough is budgeting for the remaining $8.5 million in School Bond Debt Reimbursement payments not included in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget and requested that the school district notify the borough if they were able to cover the construction funding gaps to allow for the bid to be awarded while waiting on the FEMA determination.

“I sure hope that Houston Middle School moves forward in March. Those kids have been without a school for along time so whatever we can do to do that,” said Mat-Su Borough Assemblywoman Stephanie Nowers.

The 50 percent determination from FEMA depends on whether or not over 50 percent of the building was damaged and funding would be provided to cover the entire cost of the building if it was determined to be over 50 percent. However, without additional funding to build the $34 million middle school, students could be housed in HJSH for another semester.

“We are hitting a point where if we don’t get out to bid in March, it’s very likely that we won’t get construction started in a timely way that it could be delivered in August of next year,” said Brown.