MEEKER | Denver-based planning consultants Anne Weber and Linda Wagner of Bennett Wagner Grody Architects (BWGA) led the discussion at both the Meeker School District’s facilities master planning advisory group and public meetings last Thursday at the high school. The public meeting began with a tour of the bus garage, typically referred to as the “bus barn,” and the shop, art and vocational class area of the school.
BWGA presented lists of the worst identified deficiencies of both the high school and the bus barn. Their lists included photographs along with most of the identified issues. The district’s transportation director, Roy Wedding, who has been with the district 28 years, hosted the bus barn visit.
The BWGA presentation included a summary stating that the 62 year-old high school is “significantly below typical school standards, physically. Mechanical and electrical systems need to be upgraded, updated. Structural repairs are needed. Building layout is dysfunctional to the point of affecting educational programs. Building safety is compromised due to building configuration and number of doors. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) required accessibility is not available in most parts of the building. Educational components are not able to be strategically located or configured to provide 21st century learning options. Day lighting is not available in many areas. Restrooms are not accessible and have too few fixtures by code.”
Additional deficiencies and issues include the four-foot retaining wall in front with no safety rails; parking is limited; exterior needs cleaning and pointing; insulation is inadequate; Plexiglas windows are poor thermally and are a safety hazard; L-shaped shop room is difficult to supervise; closed rooms make collaboration with other programs difficult; greenhouse is too small for the program; auditorium is old with unsafe sound rigging and lighting with seating beyond its expected life with no ADA seating; art activities are compromised by divided room and not conducive to the goal of advancing the inclusion of the arts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education (STEAM).
Physical education and athletics are limited by rooms too narrow for the desired activities; gym seating proximity to courts is hazardous and auxiliary gym has virtually no safe seating for observers. The science rooms are not close enough to encourage teaching synergy and are generally extremely old and in poor condition. Regarding corridors and public spaces, the separate levels prevent needed ADA ramps and create severe inefficiencies; doors and corridors are difficult to supervise. More toilet fixtures are needed and current finishes are old and unsightly. In addition, there is no adequate nurse’s office. Consumer sciences finishes and equipment are old and not updated to current program potentials.
With regard to a library/media center and technology, the current arrangement allows for little supervision and cannot be used as much as needed. Dispersion of technology would be better for student and staff access. The cafeteria is distant from the main entrance making the space unusable due to lack of supervision for most of the day; finishes are poor and usage rate doesn’t justify energy and upkeep costs. Classrooms in general are not accessible; they are inflexible for changing educational demands, typically lack daylight, and have poor mechanical systems with inadequate ventilation and lighting.
In general, BWGA described the bus barn as being in extremely poor condition, largely not compliant with code, making the necessary work there very difficult, suggesting that the employees who have been working there are heroes and would surely be very hard to replace, given the working conditions. Specific bus barn deficiencies identified include no satisfactory exhaust system; no capture systems for spills and hazardous run-off including snow/ice melt; poor lighting with most of the work dependent on daylight; inadequate space for working on vehicles (much work now must be done outside, even during the winter); heating is inadequate; no mechanical diagnostic equipment is available; roofs leak; all utilities (plumbing, mechanical, and electrical) are beyond scheduled life; and exposed insulation on the inside is soiled and not fully adequate.
Alternative solutions for the barn appear to be to renovate and add new square footage, or do a complete rebuild, most likely at a new location (perhaps north of the middle school football field) due to severe physical limitations at the current site.
Eric Blanke, a member of the consulting team who is with Haselden Construction’s Denver headquarters, provided some preliminary cost estimates for repairing and/or replacing the facilities. He stated that doing the needed rehabilitation and renovation work in an attempt to correct primary deficiencies would probably mean about $29 million and take longer (at least three years) than other options as the work would have to be done in a piecemeal fashion. Blanke added further that an approach of replacing primarily just the classroom wings and maybe the auxiliary gym would be between $26 million and $32 million. A third option of replacing everything except maybe the current main gym and auditorium, while renovating both as well as the vocational space beneath the auditorium, would run about $30 million to $34 million. A fourth option of a completely new high school re-build to include an auditorium, totaling about 92,000 square feet, would be $31-$32 million and be a much more predictable situation.
A public question out of the box was why consider paying as much or more for renovation when brand new costs look like they might be roughly the same or less? There was definite public expression of the importance of either keeping or building a new auditorium for the sake of the school and the community.
J.H. Sheridan, a member of the planning advisory group, also mentioned the importance of not forgetting the public concern about traffic issues at the elementary school, especially at the start and end of school every day, given it being on a dead-end drive. It was suggested that moving the bus barn would create the opportunity to extend the street past the elementary school, around through the current bus barn area, and on out by the high school.
BWGA will be evaluating the deficiencies in more detail with engineering and energy analysis applications over the next month or two. The next advisory group and public meetings are expected to be held in September.
