SYRACUSE – Wawasee School Board held its second and final preliminary public hearing Tuesday.
The first hearing was held Aug. 1.
Holding these special public hearings is the first step in the legal process. The purpose was to hear two proposed projects of Wawasee Community Schools and to open the floor to public comment.
Brian Wolf, of Garmann Miller, came back in front of the board and proposed an additional conceptual location for Wawasee High School’s performing arts center. At last week’s hearing, Wolf presented three conceptual locations. Each option considered the circulation of students, the front entrance, parking and the back of house (for use of deliveries).
“With consideration of feedback we received last week, we talked about what if we tried to make this a standalone building? But yet try to keep that connection back to the high school. There was talk of an underground tunnel to continue to have that connection from the street back to the agriculture building,” Wolf explained, alluding to Andy Cripe mentioning that no option presented last week can be seen from the road.
In this conceptual option, the performing arts center, along with the band and choir room, is detached from the high school. There is only one connection to the school. However, this option does allow for the continual flow of traffic and additional parking could be added east of the new space. This idea also allows for the addition of an outdoor courtyard area.
One of the first ideas presented was placing the PAC on the south side to have connection with the agriculture building. The main entrance in this option is “less than ideal” and the back of house is “tough” because of limited access. With this option, adding additional parking would be advised.
The second idea is a flip of Wolf’s first idea, to the west. The entrance would be toward the north parking area, which would allow plenty of parking access for visitors. Back of house is accessible for deliveries.
The third idea presented was placing the performing arts center north, in front of the football field. This idea allows for an “ideal entrance” and plenty of parking. The connection to the high school’s building makes it easily accessible for students and staff. However, accessibility to the back of house is limited.
The board heard from Emily Hower on behalf of Elevatus Architecture, the firm working on the Milford Elementary School project. She presented the schematic process so far. Hower presented an existing site plan and a supporting document that showcased the phasing of additions through the years.
During last week’s preliminary public hearing, Hower explained to the board the current building might be too old to salvage and the savings of renovation would be marginal to the cost of a new building.
Hower reminded the board of the use of Elevatus’ marketing team that could be instrumental in community communication about the project.
Zach Kessie, of Michael Kinder and Sons, construction managers on the Milford Elementary School project, agreed with Hower, citing student safety as an issue.
The projects have not entered the design phase. As laid out by Indiana code, a school corporation must hold two public hearings in order to adopt a resolution to preliminarily determine to issue bonds or enter a lease for a project that has a total project cost in excess of a noncontrolled project.
Superintendent Dr. Steve Troyer explained how a community engagement process was conducted last spring. The committee was assembled to help determine facilities needs for the next 10 to 15 years. During the April school board meeting, the committee presented a list of projects, labeled “Tier One,” that they felt should the board should consider first over anything else. Through this process, the debt capacity was considered and it was determined that not all four Tier One projects would be manageable. The committee made a recommendation to the board to consider two of the Tier One projects.
Interim Director of Finance Dr. Brandon Penrod explained the financial impact of the projects. Penrod explained the amount of bonds is $77.150 million, with estimated costs of issuance and capitalized interest of $2.15 million, leaving $75 million as the estimated proceeds for hard or soft project costs. He presented the school’s current tax rate components. In 2022 and 2023, Wawasee School Corporation’s total tax rate was $0.5399 per $100 of assessed valuation.
“The financing may be broken down in various borrowings, potentially over multiple years for financial efficacy and to align with the proposed construction schedule. The borrowings may include general obligation bonds, lease bonds and/or bond anticipation notes,” Penrod reiterated to the board.
After the presentations, the board opened the floor to public comments but there were none.
Once the preliminary public hearing adjourned, the regular August school board meeting commenced.