ESD prepares to move forward on new facility

El Dorado School board approves the design for a new transportation, maintenance and food services building

Preview: Blake Dunn with CADM Architecture presented the school board with a plan for the land including a blueprint for a facility that would allow for individual space for transportation support, food services and maintenance. The facility would also include a bus yard for about 90-100 buses, more than the district currently has with about 85. Currently, all three departments are housed in separate locations. Contributed photo
Preview: Blake Dunn with CADM Architecture presented the school board with a plan for the land including a blueprint for a facility that would allow for individual space for transportation support, food services and maintenance. The facility would also include a bus yard for about 90-100 buses, more than the district currently has with about 85. Currently, all three departments are housed in separate locations. Contributed photo

The El Dorado School District is getting ready to move forward on a new facility that would house transportation, food services and maintenance for all the schools.

In November, the district bid on a parcel of land behind El Dorado High School, south of Parnell Road and east of the Highway 82 bypass. The board voted to pay $15,000 for 10.76 acres of land with the total cost for the land being around $163,319.

At the school board meeting Monday, Blake Dunn with CADM Architecture presented the board with a plan for the land including a blueprint for a facility that would allow for individual space for transportation support, food services and maintenance. The facility would also include a bus yard for about 90-100 buses, more than the district currently has with about 85. Currently, all three departments are housed in separate locations.

Dunn presented a preliminary budget for the project of $2,185,400, which wouldn’t include equipment such as shop equipment, fuel tanks and lifts. Superintendent Jim Tucker said the district has been setting aside money to prepare for this project for about a decade so the district has funding for it in the building fund and the additional equipment. He said it would cost “quite a bit” to get the current, aging facilities backup to where they need to be.

Dunn said he’s been working with leadership in all three areas to establish what their needs are and figure out how best to serve them. He also visited the current facilities to see how things are currently being done. Dunn said he also visited facilities at other school district to see how their buildings are designed for these services.

The western 2/3 of the property would be taken up by the bus yard because the property is deeper on that side. Meanwhile, the eastern side of the property would be dedicated to maintenance work area and food services receiving yard.

“What we’re trying to do is separate bus traffic and separate all other functional traffic with people visiting the building, maintenance traffic in and out, and delivery traffic,” Dunn said.

Dunn said there would be a fueling station for the buses next to the building and with space set up the way it is, each bus would have more space than it currently does. The tanks for the fueling would be behind the building.

There would also be an open shed in the maintenance yard, which can be used to park tractors and trailers. It would be covered, but with mostly open sides.

Dunn said there will be fencing around the area as well as trees to help “the building be a good neighbor” so that those around the property wouldn’t be looking at buses all the time. He said there’s also been talk of including some fast growing trees along that area as well.

The building, which would be about 15,025 square feet, includes a divide for each area as well as a front office space.

Along the west side of the building will be the transportation area, which is deep enough for two buses to pull in end to end with each other.

“It’s set up to accommodate the largest buses the district has plus room to work around them if they had to take the hood off or things like that to get to the transmission,” Dunn said. “They can actually have space to get around them, which they don’t have now.”

The area is a wide-open space with an open storage area for tools or parts. As well as the first floor, there would be a second floor for more storage that would be split by a wall for the transportation and maintenance departments to share. The area is designed for a forklift to be able to set pallets in the second floor storage space.

The maintenance department is also a wide-open space with access to loading docks for receiving shipments and an area to back a trailer into that would be protected from the weather. The district does it’s own keying so Dunn set up a room for that within the maintenance department’s space.

The food services area is mostly comprised of three spaces: a walk in cooler, a walk in freezer and a dry storage space. There’s also a loading dock for the food services area for shipments coming into the facility or out to the different campuses.

There will be access to each of the departments for those going to the director for each department. A receptionist will be there to help anybody coming in get connected with whom they need. The receptionist area will be separated from a waiting area by a wall and security glass window, and doors will be accessed controlled so that the receptionist would have to allow access. These security measures are similar to the entrances of most of the district’s schools.

Along with storage rooms, the common area will also have a meeting/break room where the departments could do training or presentations. The room could be used after hours if needed. The second level of additional storage is because the common/public area doesn’t need to be as tall.

Each department would have access to that additional storage space, including a door that would be large enough for pallets of supplies to be placed into the area using a forklift.

Each of the four main areas will have their own toilet, which Dunn said is to keep things organized and presentable.

“The thinking behind them having separate toilets is the work they do,” Dunn said. “We want to try to not have that crossing into the public spaces to try to keep it presentable. If you step in grease or whatever, you don’t want to track it into the areas in blue (public areas).”

The outside of the building will be tan wall with a silver roof. Dunn said to help emphasize the public entrance; they’re planning to bump the wall out about a foot with a contrasting metal color. He said it’s a no cost thing, but would help break up the appearance of the large gray building.

On Monday, the board approved the design. Dunn said the tentative timeline would have bidding documents completed on May 3, with an actual bid date of June 20; construction would start July 1 with a completion date of Dec 31, 2019. However, this is contingent on a number of factors and may be changed.

Dunn said concerns are unknown oil wells being on the area. There’s at least two on the property, but he said it’s almost expected to be more. He said it wouldn’t cost the district anything if some are found, but would impact the timeline. The Oil and Gas Commission has been notified by the district and would provide the funds to deal with any wells, but there could be timeline delays because the commission would need to vote to provide the funds and they only vote once a month.

A concern Board Member Todd Whatley brought up is the heating and cooling system for the board. He expressed concern about chemicals or fuel used by the transportation or maintenance departments having an impact on the food.

Dunn said they’ll use split systems so the air wouldn’t be circulating between departments and the floor to ceiling walls between each department should also keep any cross contamination from happening.

“What we didn’t want to do is have that wide open,” Dunn said. “We’ve tried to take that into account.”

Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.

Correction

An early version of this article incorrectly listed the amount the El Dorado School District spent on the land. The district actually bought the land for $163,319.

Upcoming Events