YUHSD bond projects progressing
Yuma Union High School officials are ticking bond projects off their “to-do” list as every week passes, Facilities Management Director David Hylland reported to the governing board earlier this month.
“We have quite a lot going on,” Hylland told the board.
Projects that are moving along include the drawing up of construction documents for the Cibola Classroom Project, which is on schedule to start construction in mid-December. The project includes replacing the 720’s portable rooms and a new structure that will house special education, culinary arts and science lab classrooms. That is slated to be completed next July for the 2017-2018 school year.
The schematic design for the new district administration office and the new Vista High School campus is complete and ready to move into design development, which is the second of three design phases, Hylland said. BWS/Thompson Design architects will now fine-tune the details of the design before going into the final construction documents.
After meeting Friday with BWS and Core Construction, that project is still on-schedule and onbudget, Hylland said. The new Vista campus and district offices will be built at the current site on the corner of Avenue A and 32nd Street. The district offices will temporarily relocate in the spring while the site is prepared for construction to begin, Hylland said.
The board may see contracts for Construction Manager at Risk and preconstruction services for Kofa High School work at its Oct. 5 meeting.
“As soon as those contracts are in place we enter into the estimating phase,” Hylland said, where the teams refine the plans and the budget to make sure the projects come in under budget.
The board would then approve (or reject) GMP contracts, which set a guaranteed maximum price, at its Nov. 9 meeting, Hylland explained.
At Yuma High School, the “Old Main Elevator has kind of come back to the forefront so we’re pushing that design,” he noted as the design and estimating phase is complete. The wrestling room floor is being repaired and the catwalk to the football field pressbox has been replaced.
“That was a safety issue, a fairly serious safety issue,” Hylland said. “I’d say it’s in much better condition now, thank goodness.”
Yuma High’s tennis courts are to be resurfaced next month in advance for the next tennis season.
Portable bleachers have been ordered and installed. Due to the configuration of some of the fields, the district needed something that could be towed by a truck in order to move more easily, Hylland said.
He also noted that the district is moving along quite quickly on several projects.
At Kofa, the design process for the first of several projects kicked-off successfully with DLR Group Architects and McCarthy Construction, Hylland said. The first part of this project series will replace eight old classrooms in three buildings with a new “hub” of student activities facilities in the center of campus. The design portion for the hub will run through the spring, with construction starting in the summer of 2017, and ending in January of 2018. At the same time, programming for the other projects at Kofa is getting underway.
Also at the home of the Kings, the running track rebuild is finished and “looks really nice”, the installation of new evaporative coolers is done, phase one of the library carpet replacement is complete, and the football stadium grandstand improvements are underway.
Auditorium stage rigging replacement for both Kofa and Cibola is set for Feb. 2017.
At Cibola, the athletic field LED lighting and football field lights needed some minor tweaks, which were to be taken care of that week. The football field scoreboard replacement was delivered, but was damaged during shipping, Hylland said. An end panel is scheduled to be replaced next week and installation set for Oct. 10-11. “That’s the only one in the district that’s old style.”
The tennis court resurfacing is scheduled for this fall, and the auditorium sound/lighting upgrades are due to be done in the winter. A worker who came to inspect the rigging said “he felt like he was stepping back in time,” Hylland said. “It will be nice to have some upgrades for teachers to that auditorium.”
At San Luis High, the new running track is ready. The facilities team was to do a walk-through to address a few small issues that need to be corrected; painting work on the exterior metal of the school is finished.
“If you’ve had a chance to walk around the campus, it looks much nicer,” Hylland said.
Other items to be done in San Luis included installing two modular classroom buildings — which have already been purchased — on the west side of campus, Hylland said in his report. On Friday he said that the buildings are going through some renovations prior to being shipped. The district is working through the process of design, electrical, communications, and site design for the buildings, as well as the permitting process with the State and City of San Luis. The anticipated installation is in approximately four weeks.
Upgrades to the irrigation system are complete and included lining the pond, replacing underground piping, installing timers and brushing up the landscaping. The resurfacing of the tennis courts is still on the list of “to-do.”
“The San Luis tennis courts are probably in the worst condition; it’s good they’re getting done,” Hylland said.
At Gila Ridge High School, the marque has been installed is working “wonderfully,” Hylland said, though it is awaiting a variance from the city so that a hawk could be added. Some smaller projects are underway and others are planned including HVAC projects, fixing the auxiliary gym floor; repairs to the running track; and auditorium upgrades (lighting, sound, rigging repairs).