Design work for a replacement Mountain View Middle School is largely finished, but state review delays and a low-pressure water line at the site have forced the district and the architectural team to plan a pump house and to press state funding partners for faster decisions, Roswell Independent School District officials said Aug. 12.
The district's architect, Joseph Gallegos of Hewitt-Zollars, told the Board of Education the project passed through schematic and design-development phases and is awaiting approval from the Public School Facilities Authority (PSFA). He said a PSFA approval letter is needed before the design team can move to construction documents and bidding.
The PSFA review and recent adoption of updated state design standards have slowed the schedule, Gallegos said, and PSFA staff turnover complicated how the new standards should apply to an already-moving project. "They were under the impression that the best course of action would be to wait two months until the district could get on the agenda for the Capital Outlay Council meeting in October," Gallegos said, adding the district had objected to that delay.
Why it matters: roughly 70% of the project cost is expected to come from state capital outlay funding, so prolonged PSFA review or changed standards could affect budget, schedule and permitting. The design team described other technical constraints that changed the schematic assumptions and required added engineering work.
Architects and district staff described three specific project complications that arose during the design phase: utility constraints requiring a pump house to meet minimum fire-suppression pressure; site changes after a donated parcel expanded the school footprint and traffic access; and multiple, iterative reviews with PSFA that extended the schedule.
At the Aug. 12 meeting, the architects said the city had extended a water line to the west side of the property but the project sits at the "end of the line," producing lower-than-required pressure for a fire sprinkler system. The design team said they explored tying to other mains and looping the system but concluded those options were either cost-prohibitive or required permissions across private property. As a result, the design will include a pump house to meet the roughly 52 6 PSI needed for the school's fire suppression system.
District construction coordinator Jeremy Sanchez and the architect team said a donated parcel to the east improved site circulation (eliminating a single in/out choke point) and created room for potential future CTE expansion, but handling the utility and PSFA issues has nevertheless slowed progress.
Discussion vs. decision: the board received an informational update and asked questions; no formal vote on the design or construction contract occurred during the meeting. Board members asked whether the city could increase supply pressure or otherwise assist; the architects said they had repeatedly engaged the city and concluded available remedies were not feasible without high cost or property impacts.
Next steps: architects said they will go to 50% and then 100% construction documents after PSFA issues its approval letter; the district said it would continue daily outreach to PSFA and to members of the Capital Outlay Council to seek faster resolution so the project can go to bid.
Closing note: the district emphasized it will continue designing despite the state-level uncertainty and asked board members for help contacting state capital-outlay council members to press for timely review.