Middletown board approves extra engineering work for Reed Elementary renovation and PennDOT HOP improvements

The Middletown Area School District Board of School Directors voted to amend its civil engineering contract to pay for additional traffic work, a joint wetlands/watercourse permit and related roadway improvements connected to the Reed Elementary School renovation and associated PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit requirements.

The amendment, moved and seconded during the board meeting, passed by voice vote with no recorded roll call. The work covers extra traffic engineering, the joint permit application process with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for limited wetlands impacts, and redesign/realignment tasks at the Blue Raider Lane/Overland Road intersection and a new Greenfield Drive connection.

The board heard a presentation from Grace, of Crabtree, Roerball and Associates, who summarized the Reed renovation scope and cost estimate. Grace said the project will reconfigure classrooms so Reed becomes a grades 4–5 building (the district’s primary school will serve K–3), convert current kindergarten rooms to age-appropriate fixtures, create individual-use toilet rooms for special-education spaces, upgrade mechanical equipment (including a domestic water heater and the walk-in refrigeration system), and make selective faculty-room and finish upgrades. Grace described alternates and FF&E items handled separately from the base bid and said the project team reduced earlier scope to control cost.

Grace described the budget figures presented to the board: a construction subtotal of $1,100,000 and a total base bid (including soft costs and furniture) of about $2,100,000, with…