LHS: Cost of rebuilding vs. renovating

The Lewiston School District's architects are set to reveal a side-by-side comparison of plans for renovating Lewiston High School and constructing a new high school tonight.

The presentation, during a 6 p.m. Lewiston School Board meeting on the Lewis-Clark State College campus, will include a breakdown and cost estimates for both options.

"We're really trying to do this apples to apples comparison," said lead architect Amber Van Ocker, of Leatham, Krohn and Van Ocker of Boise.

The Lewiston board has been moving toward a construction bond proposal for about two and a half years, starting with a resolution in the fall of 2013 calling for a four-year high school. Freshmen currently attend Lewiston's two junior highs, while the high school on Normal Hill houses 10th through 12th grades.

Construction bond attempts for building a new high school on property owned by the school district in the Lewiston Orchards were rejected by Lewiston voters in 2004, 2010 and 2011. School construction bonds require a 66.6 supermajority to pass in Idaho.

An analysis of the current campus completed last year by Van Ocker's firm detailed structural issues in the original 1928 building and accessibility and parking issues throughout the campus, but did not include a cost estimate for renovation.

The board asked Van Ocker and fellow district architect Robert Uhrich, of RGU Architecture and Planning of Lewiston, to prepare preliminary designs for both renovation and new construction options earlier this year. A construction management firm - Kenaston Corp., of Lewiston, and Leone and Keeble, of Spokane, working together as one entity - was brought on to collaborate and provide cost estimates.

Tonight's presentation is the culmination of that request, Van Ocker said, including comparisons of individual components of each design, such as classrooms, gymnasiums and auditoriums, cafeterias, administrative offices and vocational-technical facilities.

"Both solutions need to address the programming deficiencies that the district currently has," Van Ocker said. "We really are turning over every stone trying to give them as much information as possible to make sure they're making the right decision for the community."

The cost for the current design phase is about $35,000 for the architects and about $14,000 for the construction management piece.

The meeting was scheduled for LCSC's Williams Conference Center instead of the board's usual venue at the district office in anticipation of public interest, Superintendent Bob Donaldson said.

Donaldson emphasized that the public is encouraged to attend, but that board members will be seeing the information for the first time tonight. There will be opportunities for follow-up and public input at future meetings, he said.

"It's all information for the board," Donaldson said. "The board's not making any decisions (tonight)."

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Stone may be contacted at mstone@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2244. Follow her on Twitter @MarysSchoolNews.