Plans for the renovation and expansion of Riverside-Brookfield High School unveiled at an open meeting Monday night would double the original estimates given to District 208 residents last year.
Following the board’s recommendation to pursue a policy that sought a major renovation of the school building rather than a completely new structure, architects Monday night pitched two concepts that would cost between $65 million and $80 million. Translated into a tax increase for District 208 homeowners, that would mean roughly a $500-per-year increase in property taxes for a home valued at $300,000.
Previous cost estimates placed major renovation of the school at around $30 million.
Architects presented two alternative conceptual plans to a rather sparse crowd of around 50 people at a Monday night meeting held specifically to get input from community members.
Both plans call for demolishing part of the existing building, renovating what remains and adding on the existing building. The plans are still conceptual in nature and could change based on reaction to them.
“We are in the conceptual stage,” said District 208 Superintendent/Principal Jack Baldermann. “You have to see this as a first draft.”
Once the District 208 school board settles on a plan, it will seek public approval to sell bonds to fund the project in a referendum, probably in March.
School board President Larry Herbst said that the board will probably not decide on a plan or decide on how much money to seek in the referendum until some time in January.
The biggest difference in the two plans presented Monday night is that one plan, called Plan A, includes construction of a new 50-meter swimming pool. Plan C calls for renovation of RB’s current 25-yard pool.
According to Tom Leonard of the Gilbane Building Company, hired to provide construction estimates, Plan A was estimated to cost in the range of $75 to 80 million and Plan C was estimated to cost in the range of $65 to 75 million.
A new pool is estimated to cost around $7 million, while it would cost around $500,000 to $700,000 to renovate the old 25-yard pool.
“The difference between A and C in dollars is primarily made up in the cost of the pool,” said Baldermann. “That’s what it’s coming down to. Is that an expense the community will bear?”
RB swimming coach Todd Fridrych, not surprisingly, felt a new pool would be worth the expense noting that the small, size of the current pool limits its use.
“We’re cramped right now,” said Fridrych. “I just think if you did not build a new pool that would be a big mistake.”
Both plans call building a new community wellness center with an indoor track, three basketball courts and room for exercise equipment. The community wellness center would be open to the public in the evenings and would cost around $5.8 million to build.
Both plans call for increased parking by either building a deck over the existing student parking lot or working out an arrangement with the Village of Brookfield to arrange for about 100 diagonal parking spots on Rockefeller Avenue west of the school. The decked parking lot could be operated in conjunction with Brookfield Zoo.
Both plans call for an increase of about 12 academic classrooms and new science labs.
Plan A would demolish the East Gym and build the community wellness center on the east end of the school along First Avenue. It calls for angled addition for classroom space on the southeast front of the school that would require uprooting several large oak trees, according to Herbst. That option, however, would keep the school’s 1918 facade intact.
Plan C, which would cost about $10 million dollars less than Plan A, would retain both the existing pool and the East Gym. It would tear down the existing music area and put the community wellness center along the rear of the school in the northeast portion of the building. Plan C also shows a classroom addition in the front of the building that would essentially cover up the original facade of the building. The 1918 facade might be visible within an interior courtyard, which is shown on the plan.
Both plans would spend about $24 million to upgrade and modernize the existing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems what would be left of the existing building. Both plans envision a building of approximately 390,000 square feet compared to the 300,000 square feet in the current building.
Many observers seemed to think that Plan C made for a nicer looking building, but many at the meeting also thought a new pool would be worth the expense. The thinking was if the district is going to spend so much money on renovation and expansion it might as well build a modern functional pool to replace its old and dilapidated one that is not large enough to serve existing needs, to say nothing of future needs.
Some felt the conceptual models did not provide enough detailed information about the design ideas and the operating costs involved.
“I don’t think anybody can make an informed opinion based on this,” said Chris Robling, a Riverside resident and a former member of the school’s renovation committee, which worked for several years on assessing options for renovating RB. “I’m anxious to get more information. You owe us more.”
A $60 million referendum to sell 20-year bonds to fund the project would, if approved by the voters, cost the owner of a $300,000 home about an additional $400 a year in additional property taxes according to John Gibson, the district’s business manager.
For a $70 million bond issue, the additional cost to an owner of a $300,000 home would be about $490 a year. Meanwhile, an $80 million bond issue would cost that same homeowner an extra $560 a year, according to Gibson.
The board will continue to seek out community reaction and work with its architects in the coming weeks and will not make a final decision until late January.