The School Expansion committee met again on January 19th. From our previous meeting the committee addressed some questions that needed to be answered by the architect. We felt after some of our questions were answered, that would help us get some of our options narrowed down.
Our goals continue to be to add 3 to 4 new rooms while creating easy access from the lower level parking lot to the upper level and church. The committee’s focus has been on meeting our goals in the most cost-effective way.
We analyzed the following three options that the committee is considering. All three options include remodeling our current basement bathrooms and locker rooms in school.
Option A
Excel’s (architect) design, but make the passageway between church and new school addition shorter
Adds 4 rooms plus a commons
Removes drive-through down the hill
Includes passageway to church
Parsonage garage: change so it exits to the east
Option B
Build to the north of the gym, plus a narrow commons to the east
Half of the gym will be in this new addition and the south half of the existing gym would be renovated into the new classrooms.
Adds 5 rooms plus a commons
Keeps drive-through down the hill (but close it off during school hours)
No passageway to church
Parsonage garage: no change
Lose approximately 6-8 parking spaces
Have to add sprinklers to the entire building
Maybe lose west entrance to the lower parking lot
Need to re-do the gym floor and move bleachers, etc.
Option C
Similar to option A, but with a reduced footprint
Adds 3 rooms plus a commons
Removes drive-through down the hill
Can include passageway to church
Converts existing 2nd grade classroom to bathrooms
Costs less than option A
During discussion, we determined we could probably come up with a change to Option C that did this:
Maintains access to existing parsonage garage door entrance (no change needed to garage)
Adds 4 rooms plus a commons
Adds single-stall bathrooms to two of the new classrooms, so existing 2nd grade classroom does not need to be converted to bathrooms
Has no passageway to church
For bad weather, includes easy access through the commons of the new addition to get from our lower parking lot, up the new stairs (or elevator), and then exiting the new addition into the upper parking lot/church entrance area
Includes exterior steps next to the addition for easy access to church from the lower parking lot during warm weather.
Has an upper parking lot that is completely level with the church entrance
Includes a turn-around in the upper parking lot that would allow passenger drop-offs for church and an easy turn-around to get back out to Pine street
Includes 4 parking spots in the upper parking lot (3 fewer than we have now)
Plans removal of grass by two of the Pine street parking spaces (adjacent to the church entrance) to make it easier to get from street parking to the church entrance
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for February 9th. One goal before this meeting is to come up with a drawing that meets the requirements of this potential modification to Option C. Another goal is to estimate costs for this new option, plus have better cost estimates for Option B.
As always, if any Immanuel church or school member has thoughts or suggestions they’d like to share with the committee, please email them to schoolexpansion@ilutheran.org or reach out to one of the committee members.