LUSD moves forward with new maintenance building plans
The Lodi City Council voted unanimously to require public improvements to the anticipated Lodi Unified School District maintenance and operations facility during a special meeting Tuesday morning at Carnegie Forum.
The Lodi Unified board of trustees voted to relocate the maintenance and operations facility — which currently sits on the Lodi High School campus — to 880 N. Guild Ave.
“The district wants to build the facility on North Guild Avenue. We are requiring some improvements which include paving sidewalks, street lights and on-site water systems,” Deputy Public Works Director Lyman Chang said.
The agreement will allow the district to implement its changes and move forward with the construction of the facility, Chang said. The district expects the new facility on North Guild Avenue to be completed by June 2020.
“We need to have the M and O building completed to move forward with the demolition of the existing maintenance and operations facility on Lodi’s campus,” Lodi Unified Chief Business Officer
Leonard Kahn said.
The Lodi Unified Board of Trustees approved a $75 million project in January of this year to renovate Lodi High School’s campus, which will include demolishing portable classrooms on the north portion of the campus to make room for new permanent classroom buildings.
“There will be some new parking to the south, just north of the track,” Kahn said.
The contract to relocate the district’s maintenance and operations building was awarded to Diede Construction in January.
The district will use Measure U funds — a $281 million bond passed by Lodi voters in 2016 to upgrade and repair school and district sites — to construct the new classrooms at Lodi High.
The district requested the city expedite their improvement agreement so they could meet the June deadline.
“The maintenance and operations facility is similar to the (Public Works Corporation Yard) that the city has,” Kahn said.
The city’s corporation yard is located south of Kofu Park near South Ham Lane. It is where the Public Works, Lodi Electric Utility, and Lodi Transit offices are located.