Summer construction to continue at Sonoma Valley schools

The construction boom at the various campuses in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District will continue this coming summer – and for several summers to come.|

The construction boom at the various campuses in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District will continue this coming summer – and for summers to come.

The school district passed Measure H, a $40 million general obligation bond issue in 2010, and Measure E, a $120 million general obligation bond issue in 2016 to pay for the projects.

At the February school board meeting, Tenaya Dale, the district’s construction manager with Counterpoint Construction Services, briefed the board on what was done last summer and what projects will be bid this coming summer.

In a PowerPoint presentation, Dale said the projects from last summer paid for in Measure H funds included various roofing and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) projects including the HVAC replacement at Flowery, the roofing and HVAC replacement at Prestwood and the roofing and HVAC replacement at the Sonoma Charter School.

According to figures from Bruce Abbott, the district’s chief financial officer, the Flowery HVAC was $1 million; the Prestwood project was $2.1 million and the Sonoma Charter project was $600,000.

The district also completed the Altimira parking and drop off project for $800,000; Phase 4 of the $3 million data infrastructure project; transforming a room in the high school library into the College and Career Center for $500,000; and the all-weather field and track behind Adele Harrison for $2.6 million.

The district was also going to add another driveway and parking area in front of the high school, but since the access was from Broadway, which is a state highway, it needed Caltrans to sign off on the project. Caltrans did sign off, eventually, but it was too late to bid and build the project last summer, so it got postponed for a year.

Dale also told the board what was being planned for this coming summer, some of which will be funded with Measure H and some by Measure E.

The Measure H projects for this summer include roofing and HVAC replacement at Sassarini for $1.8 million; Dunbar HVAC replacement for $1.3 million; Altimira HVAC replacement for $2.3 million; and improvements at the high school ag farm for $1.7 million.

Dale said the projects that will be coming out of Measure E funding includes partial roofing and HVAC replacement at the high school for $3.8 million; and library upgrades at the high school for $1.5 million.

Dale told the trustees the roofing and HVAC work at the high school is a huge project and will take two to three summers to complete.

She said other Measure E projects that are in the planning stages include upgrades for the Dunbar toilets, the replacement of the Dunbar septic system, new multipurpose room at El Verano, staff parking lot at Flowery, modernization of Flowery’s multipurpose room and library, lighting at Sassarini and Phase 1 of the portable replacements at the Sonoma Charter School.

Also, improvements for the Altimira track, the modernization of Adele Harrison’s multipurpose room, the track and field improvements at the high school, culinary and shop renovations at the high school, a swimming pool at the high school and modernization at Creekside.

At the March 13 meeting, the board approved a $238,000 contract with GHD, a Sacramento firm, for California Environmental Quality Act work for the high school track and field.

But one of the high school’s neighbors, Bob Albright, objected to the mention of a “2,500-seat stadium” in the contract.

Albright said the district had agreed to cut back the seating to 1,500 seats instead of the 2,500 that were originally proposed. After a discussion, the board approved a motion with no specific number of seats.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.