LIVONIA, NY — The Livonia Central School District is embarking on the first of what is being anticipated as a series of three capital building improvement and expansion projects over the next decade. The public vote for the $8.368,021 expenditure takes place on Dec. 16 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Primary School gymnasium.
The three projects will correspond with the expiration of debt service payment on earlier projects.
“We are attempting to keep these tax neutral,” said school Superintendent Scott Bischoping. “We are timing and pricing each of the projects so that the impact on the district — the increase in the debt — will be the same as what is dropping off. The idea is to keep the debt payment constant in consideration of work which needs to be done.”
The immediate project, subject of the Dec. 16 vote, coincides with a 2012-13 break in debt service which, by the time the voting and preparatory work is accomplished, will place the bonding in the same time frame. A remaining $200,000 from the previous EXCEL project will be assisting the new project.
The second project will coincide with a debt break scheduled for 2015-16. Planning will begin in 2012. About $5 million will be available.
The third project will coincide with a 2019 debt break with planning beginning in 2017. $12-to-$13 million will be available.
New roof, lobby and greenhouse
The project’s biggest component is a new roof which will cover most of the Primary School. It will be a long-lasting energy efficient design replacing the old stone ballast. This most necessary part of the project will be immediately submitted for State Education Department approval after the vote, allowing for the work to get done in the summer of 2010.
The school buildings were subject to a state-required five year condition survey this past summer. The survey results have largely determined what the maintenance components of the project will be. Some of this will be ADA and code required upgrades of classrooms and bathrooms such as, for example, strobe alarms.
More interesting are the expansive, non-maintenance elements of the project: a demonstration photovoltaic system and a greenhouse. Also new will be an auditorium lobby addition into the courtyard. The auditorium itself will have new lighting, sound, HVAC with variable zone air conditioning and a new riser mechanism for the stage pit.
The state building condition survey assures that essential maintenance items are annotated and given priority over new construction in the SED approval.
“The roof has to be replaced before we build the greenhouse,” Bischoping advises. However, the new features of the project such as the greenhouse and PV system are important, being geared toward giving students insight into alternative energy technology and careers.
See complete story in our Nov. 5 print edition.
