Right back where they started

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s not their first choice for a location for a new elementary school, but time, money and a lack of land available for purchase are pushing Coeur d’Alene school officials to take a harder look at the Hayden Lake Elementary site for a new building.

The old school, built in 1932, sits on 6 acres along Government Way on the corner of Hayden Avenue. It is now home to the school district’s Northwest Expedition Academy. Known as “NExA,” the school has 270 students and offers project-based learning and incorporates expeditions beyond the school’s walls into lesson plans. A new school will house NExA.

With no land easily available to buy, school officials are considering building the new school on the Hayden Lake site and demolishing the old building.

It has one major drawback: It’s not west of U.S. 95.

Voters approved a $35.5 million bond last March that includes $12 million for construction of the new school. When the bond was pitched to voters by board members, they said, at the time, that the school would be built in the district’s northwest section.

Since January, school district administrators and board chair Casey Morrisroe have been searching for suitable land to purchase north of Prairie Avenue and west of U.S. 95.

“I feel, at least within our district boundaries, we’ve pretty much exhausted our possibilities there,” Morrisroe said Monday, during a board workshop on the issue.

There are a few parcels west of U.S. 95 that are all owned by the same person.

“And they’re all north of our budget,” Morrisroe said.

Two of the parcels could be suitable sites for a school, but one along Ramsey Road is being offered for $1.4 million and the other is for sale for $1.35 million.

The school district has about $1 million to spend on the land purchase, most of it funds from the sale last year of 10 acres the school district owned in the Nettleton Gulch area.

During Monday’s workshop, Scott Fischer of Architects West, presented a preliminary concept for a school on the Hayden Lake site.

To shrink the building’s footprint on the ground, Fischer said they would likely consider a second story for some classroom space. He suggested an L-shaped building set back from the road in the northeast corner of the property with a bus loop to the south off Hayden Avenue and a main entrance off Government Way, with plenty of room for parents’ vehicles as they pick up and drop off their children. The plan would leave space for outdoor play areas and opportunities for outdoor lessons.

Morrisroe said the school district hopes to open a new elementary school in the fall of 2019. Fischer said to make that happen, they would have to be able to go to bid in the spring of 2018.

He said the board will have to select a site soon. The longer they wait, he said, construction costs will increase significantly.

Trustee Tom Hearn said he’s keeping an open mind about a new school location, but time is running out.

“I think we’re by default, back at the Hayden Lake school site,” Hearn said.

He said if he was asked to vote on the matter today, he’d be in favor of that site.

Bryan Martin, director of the school district’s maintenance department, said the greatest advantage the Hayden Lake site has over other sites is financial.

“You have gas, you have power, you have sewer. It’s all there right now … so all those issues go away ... That is huge dollars, and you don’t have to spend money to buy it (the land),” Martin said. “... I think it is so critical for us to get this thing out on the street and get bids, because we are going to lose a lot of money if we can’t get this thing bid soon.”

Trustee Lisa May said before a decision is made, she wants to hear from parents and community members about how they feel about building a new school on the Hayden Lake Elementary site. May said she would also like to see some traffic and busing studies done before making a decision.

She suggested they take 30 to 45 days to gather this information before making a decision.

The board will likely decide whether to build on the Hayden Lake property or elsewhere when it meets in January.