Big ideas for new SVHS

Daniel Burnham, the famous late 19th- and early 20th-century architect, once said, “Make no little plans …”

Sonoma Valley High officials apparently are taking their cue from Burnham, as Tuesday they unveiled a draft proposal for the campus’s Master Facility Plan.

The ambitious plan includes a performing arts center that features a 400-seat auditorium; a quad – which could include an amphitheater – in the middle of the campus where building G now sits; a new student services building that would include a cafe of sorts; improved athletic facilities with new locker rooms and weight room, a 35-meter pool, four more tennis courts, four new baseball diamonds and a 3,500-seat football/soccer field with artificial turf surrounded by an eight-lane all-weather track.

Because the plan is just a draft, ?there are no cost estimates or timelines yet. But as the plan moves forward, costs and a projected timeline will be added before the school board approves the plan – possibly in May.

The draft was prepared by the firm, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, QKA, with input from a committee comprised of staff, administrators, teachers, parents, community members and alumni.

Steve Kwok, with QKA, told the two-dozen people at the meeting that the draft was a guide for the development of the Sonoma Valley High campus.

“This defines the needed facilities to support the educational process,” he said. “This creates a plan for future development.”

Kwok said the committee looked at four big issues, the lack of a “front door” to the school and the poor street presence on Broadway; the lack of a heart of the campus where students could gather; underdeveloped athletic facilities that aren’t on par with schools throughout the area; and that the existing performing arts facilities are too small.

After Kwok’s presentation, large-scale drawings of the proposed changes were set up in two areas allowing attendees to get a closer look and make their own suggestions as to where some buildings could be located.

He pointed out that some of the changes would have to happen incrementally because, for example, in order to construct the quad or plaza, a classroom building would have to be demolished and space would be needed to house those classes.

Before the draft plan gets to the school board for its approval, in addition to costs, the committee would set priorities.

The district has $25.3 million in unsold bonds from Measure H, the $40 million bond initiative that passed in 2010. But the district is looking at another round of repairs for the coming summer. The $25.3 million wouldn’t cover all the projects on the facility master plans for each of the campuses. At last month’s school board meeting, Superintendent Louann Carlomagno said there’s about $110 million in proposed projects.

Kwok said there’s no cost estimate yet, but when the costs are estimated, it would be in today’s dollars. He told the group that it could see costs rise as much as 8 percent a year as it looks to the future.

“It also depends on the local economy,” he said. And he pointed out that in the South Bay, with companies such as Apple and Google building huge campuses, it’s hard to get materials in that area.

He did say that local contractors – and especially local subcontractors – would be used on the project.

He promised that any demolition would be done in the summer so as not to disturb classes. And he said the projects would be done under one Environmental Impact Report because “you can’t piecemeal them.” He estimated that an EIR could be completed in about nine months.

“We want to give as many opportunities to as many students as possible,” he said. And said that the infrastructure needs to be “as robust as possible,” because of the technology. “We see that each student will have three [modes of technology]: a laptop, a tablet and a phone,” he said, and that will require a lot of bandwidth.

The school board will get its first look at the proposed plan at its February meeting. Because of Brown Act regulations, only two school board members were allowed at Tuesday’s presentation.

The facilities committee will meet again in late February and go over some of the oral and written suggestions from the meeting.