Project list for Sonoma Valley schools includes athletic complex and pool

Sonoma Valley High school to get athletic facility and new pool|

The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board Tuesday divvied up the first $40 million of the $120 million Measure E general obligation bond that district voters approved in November.

Sonoma Valley High came away with the lion’s share but that’s because it has so many big-ticket items.

Each of the district’s 11 campuses will have first round projects. The board is looking at selling the bonds in four sales of $40 million, $30 million, $30 million and $20 million spaced about two years apart.

The school board spent about two hours moving projects and numbers around.

The high school will get its long-needed athletic facilities which includes a track, an all-weather field, bleachers and lights ($8,697,130); a pool ($6,515,600); career and technical education and shops ($3,152,305); finish the library project ($1,392,105) and the Ag farm ($1,000,000).

Altimira Middle School will get an all-weather track ($3,198,000); Adele Harrison Middle School will get a gym and stage modernization and a new boys locker room ($3,246,312); Dunbar Elementary is scheduled to get sound mitigation in the multipurpose room ($26,000) and bathroom improvements ($312,000); Flowery Elementary will get additional paving ($13,000), additional staff parking($223,717) and a library upgrade ($182,813).

Sassarini Elementary will get site lighting ($367,939), a running circle ($249,600), a drinking fountain ($26,000) and new benches ($11,700); the Sonoma Charter School will get new classrooms ($2,000,000); Woodland Star Charter School will get additional parking ($604,351) and a new multi-purpose room ($2,689,164); Creekside High School will receive interior improvements ($272,758), exterior improvements ($153,838) and interior walls ($62,238); El Verano and Prestwood will receive tech upgrades ($2,000,000) and all the campuses will receive new signage ($500,000).

But these projects won’t start tomorrow or the next day.

Board President Dan Gustafson said the board still needs to fine tune and clarify the projects. “Nothing is in stone,” he said.

Right now, there’s no timeline, but the district hasn’t started selling bonds yet. And nothing can go out to bid until there’s money in the bank.

Some of the projects will also need an Environmental Impact Report, which takes time.

Steve Kwok, with the district’s architectural firm QKA, said the athletic facility at the high school could take two or three years and would need an EIR. The pool, too, would take two or more years, but probably wouldn’t need an EIR.

Kwok also told the board that out of the $120 million, only about $68 million would be available for projects. It will cost the district an estimated $800,000 to issue the bonds, tech improvements will take $6 million, furniture $5 million and deferred maintenance $5 million. He said the district needs to look at more than $15.6 million in contingencies and another $18.7 million for price escalation.

Before the board started the process, it took comment for about 45 minutes from audience members advocating for certain projects.

The board has scheduled a special meeting for Monday, July 10, where it will fine-tune the projects.

This was only the first in a number of sessions that this board and future boards will be conducting as it sells the bonds.

In addition to setting priorities from the first bond sale, the board started on priorities for the second bond sale, which will be $30 million. In the second round, El Verano, Prestwood and Sassarini will receive new multi-purpose rooms while Flowery’s multi-purpose room will be modernized.

While there were more than 100 people looking on at the beginning of the meeting, by the time the board wrapped it up almost three hours later, the crowd had dwindled to maybe two dozen.

Email bill at bill.hoban@sonomanews.com

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