SEQUIM — The Sequim school board has agreed to new contracts related to planning for the district’s 20-year, $146 million construction bond and a $5 million Career Technical Education building.
The district also received unanimous approval from the state’s Project Review Committee (PRC) in two separate interviews on Dec. 4 to use the Progressive Design-Build project delivery method to build a new Helen Haller Elementary, and to go forward with selecting a general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) for Sequim High School and the CTE building.
Superintendent Regan Nickels said the Progressive Design-Build project method will allow for better collaboration early on between architects and the contracting firm so there will be fewer change orders and be “hopefully more financially effective for the budgets we have.”
As part of the voter-approved bond in February, Helen Haller Elementary, at 350 W. Fir St., will be rebuilt, likely behind the existing building a 62,000-square-foot structure. The existing school would be demolished for a parking lot and bus loop after construction is complete, according to district documents.
The current school will remain occupied while the new school is built, staff have said.
District documents estimate the project to cost about $63.6 million with $58.4 million from bond proceeds and $5.2 million in matching funds from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP).
Staff report in planning documents that the Design-Build phase will help “confirm alignment of scope and budget and test two-story and one-story models and different teaching approaches.”
Phase one design will start in July, and construction will go through May 2029, according to a delivery schedule map.
District staff previously said a second package, including a new transportation center and stadium improvements, could be proposed to the PRC, too. However, Nickels said the only reason they would go back is if one of the projects required an alternative delivery building method.
SHS/CTE buildings
During a special meeting on Dec. 3, school board directors voted 4-0, with Michael Rocha excused, to a $5.2 million contract with Mahlum, an architecture firm from Seattle, for design services for Sequim High School and the CTE building, which will be known as the Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence.
The district previously worked with the firm on designing two buildings at Greywolf Elementary.
According to Mahlum’s “Defined Scope of Services and Fee Proposal,” its staff state that the preliminary projects’ budget is $57.3 million with $52.4 million coming from bond proceeds and $4.9 million from a community improvement grant.
The scope of the project includes replacing Sequim High School’s A, B, C, D and E buildings with instructional wings that connect all buildings to create a secure campus, and constructing the 10,000-square-foot CTE building.
Nickels said SHS and the CTE buildings were brought to the PRC for approval on Dec. 4 because they have to be very thoughtful about how they’re managing how the projects are paid for with different funds.
The RFP for a general contractor/contract manager tentatively goes out this week with a board decision some time in mid-February. Staff report that the project will require significant pre-planning due to the school remaining in operation during construction with limited storage and access areas for materials and equipment.
According to preliminary planning documents, the CTE building will be substantially complete by February 2028, and the high school substantially complete by July 2029.
Mike Santos, the district’s facilities director, said a different architectural and design team could be chosen for different projects because they will be completed separately.
Contracts approved
School board directors unanimously approved two contracts on Dec. 1, the first for about $123,000 with Certerra Northwest to provide geotechnical services analysis for SHS, Helen Haller Elementary, the CTE site adjacent to the high school, the Central Kitchen, the district’s transportation building and Greywolf Elementary School.
According to the agency’s proposal, they’ll characterize geotechnical and geologic conditions at the various project sites to provide conclusions and recommendations for the design and construction.
The second contract was approved for just more than $157,000 with PACE Engineers to do boundary and topographic surveys of the district’s properties involved in the bond projects.
Geotechnical began last week and the land survey will begin this week, Santos said.
In early September, the school board approved a contract for up to $5.3 million through Dec. 31, 2031, with The Wenaha Group to serve as the construction management firm for the bond projects and the CTE building.
Wenaha’s Chris Marfori will serve as the senior planning manager to oversee the entire bond program with responsibility for the overall budget, master scheduling and issue resolution, according to district documents. Wenaha staff previously oversaw the voter-approved 2021 Capital Projects Levy projects.
Along with construction of a new elementary school, renovated high school and CTE building, remaining bond proceeds will be used to:
• Upgrade the multi-sport athletic field.
• Replace the transportation center.
• Add a bus loop between Fir Street and Sequim Middle School.
• Add a Greywolf Elementary School cafeteria.
• Build a new Greywolf bus loop and parking lot.
• Improve Greywolf’s HVAC system.
• Upgrade safety and security systems at the middle school, Greywolf and Olympic Peninsula Academy.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com. He has family employed and enrolled in Sequim School District.
