FELLSMERE — Fellsmere Elementary School is getting closer to its date with a bulldozer and other heavy equipment as the School Board has approved a $2.67 million contract with Pirtle Construction Company to handle the first of two phases of renovation and expansion at the approximately 30-year-old undersized school.
Pirtle Construction has been tasked with preparing the campus, located on N. Cypress Street, for the construction work, including demolishing the existing cafeteria, building a temporary kitchen and dining facility, and handling utilities.
The project will also bring much-needed employment to the area, as the Broward-based firm is expected to hire out nearly one-third of the subcontract jobs to Indian River County workers and contractors.
“This is in preparation of getting the campus ready for the building that will be taking place,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Fran Adams said.
Pirtle expects to have the first phase completed in time for the 2013-14 school year to commence.
The second phase is expected to take up the remainder of the $8.6 million budgeted for the project’s construction.
The overall project’s budget is $9.7 million – but about a million was set aside for planning and design as well as for outfitting the school with new furniture and equipment.
“I’m looking forward to getting the project started,” said School Board member Karen Disney-Brombach, who lives in Fellsmere. “Certainly, Fellsmere has been bursting at the seams for a long time.”
Fellsmere Elementary, built in the early 1980s, was constructed to handle approximately 450 students.
Between the Class Size Amendment restricting the number of students allowed in each classroom and the growth of the town over the last couple decades, the student population has outgrown the building.
As it is, there are more than 700 students attending Fellsmere Elementary and the entire second grade has been housed in portable classrooms.
The second phase of the school project includes building more permanent classroom space as well as reworking the existing administrative buildings to make them more space efficient.
Pirtle Construction expects to wrap up the second phase by June 2014, ahead of the 2014-15 school year.
The expansion work would have called for the loss of field space for the students if not for a partnership struck between the School District and the City of Fellsmere.
With additional buildings on the school’s campus, the district would have had to carve out more land for stormwater retention – resulting in less outdoor space for students.
To that end, the City of Fellsmere agreed to allow the School District to handle its water run-off off-site, across the street near the Marian Fell Library property.
The School District will construct and manage the stormwater retention pond – as it would have if it had been on the school’s property – and the city will be allowed to use half the retention for its own needs.
“This is an example of how we can work together,” Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker said.
The stormwater retention will be located to the north of the handball and tennis courts, which is currently heavily wooded.
Nunemaker said the city would have need of the retention pond later as the city develops the Marian Fell Library property.
The city manager sees the land as a place where historically significant structures could be relocated to be saved from demolition.
“We are picking up a huge win here,” Nunemaker said, explaining that not only would the School District be able to keep the play fields for students and the city would get stormwater retention, but also the retention pond could be more aesthetically pleasing by not being on school property.
If the pond were on the school’s land, it would have to be fenced and landscaped and would essentially just sit there, according to Nunemaker. By being on city land, the pond could be a park-like amenity, instead.
Dr. Adams concurred with Nunemaker’s assessment of the joint venture.
“It is a partnership that will benefit both the School District and the City of Fellsmere,” she said.
Not discussed in the first phase of the renovations and expansion was the School District’s consideration of connecting Fellsmere Elementary to natural gas.
Marc Seagrave, of Florida City Gas, told the Fellsmere City Council about the plans during a recent meeting.
The company is expanding its pipeline through Indian River County, including running natural gas along County Road 512 through Fellsmere.
A line would be run up North Cypress Street to the school to provide the gas, which is expected to result in an energy cost savings for the district, according to Seagrave.
The main line would go out to the west end of town, where County Road 512 bends to the south, to provide natural gas to Florida Organic Aquaculture, the foreign-investor owned shrimp farm.
