Staying with the story
The Springfield News-Sun has reported extensively on Urbana City Schools’ $68 million new building construction project since it was first announced.
Urbana City Schools has taken another step forward in its $68 million school construction project with the approval of state-required building plans.
The Board of Education last week approved design stage requirements for the new elementary-middle school and high school buildings. But the settlement of a dispute with the city of Urbana on access road construction for the elementary-middle school is still not imminent.
“Basically what the city would like us to do is pay $3 million to $5 million to extend Washington Avenue,” said Charles Thiel, Urbana’s superintendent. “We only see that street servicing Walmart.”
The new high school building will have nearly 88,000 square feet, while the elementary-middle school is planned to have a total square footage of over 180,000.
“The buildings are an investment in the community,” Thiel said.
Thiel thinks the new buildings will add students to a district that is experience a drop in enrollment.
“Enrollment has been decreasing, but it’s really not a huge decrease over time,” he said.
Thiel sees the causes as lack of housing, online education and students transferring to other school districts. Newer school buildings in Urbana would draw new students from other districts, he added.
“Our neighbors have new or newer buildings,” Thiel said. He feels that may be pulling students from his district.
Meanwhile, the road dispute goes on. The city’s master plan includes the extension of Washington Avenue eastward through the property where the new elementary-middle school building is planned. It sees the construction of that road as the school district’s responsibility.
But when the cost of the city’s initial infrastructure demands turned out to be between $1.7 to $3.5 million more than the district had budgeted for, the school board began looking for possible alternative sites. Last month, the district said it is moving forward with construction plans.
The district is proposing to extending Boyce Street and Community Drive for its access points.
“Boyce dead-ends at our athletic complex,” Thiel said. “We’re not asking the city to help pay for it.”
The district has to hold to the constraints of the levy passed last November, when voters approved a $31.3 million bond issue to help fund construction.
“We can’t be required to do anything above and beyond that,” Thiel said. “The advice from our legal council is we are not responsible to extend Washington Street.”
The building project includes making the auditorium a stand-alone building. According to Thiel, the biggest cost in preserving the auditorium will be putting in heating and air conditioning.
The old high school, referred to as the castle, is also part of the project. Only the castle portion will be preserved, however. On graduation day, as part of Urbana tradition, the graduates march out of the castle and down the hill to the stadium.
“It was built in 1897, and the district would like to take it back to looking like it did in 1897,” Thiel said.
About the Author