Estill County Board approves bonds, site design and early bidding to start new middle school site work

The Estill County Board of Education on March 20 approved a package of actions to begin site work on a new middle school, including engaging a financial adviser, authorizing about $890,000 in general obligation bonds and advertising the early site bid package.

The actions, approved by unanimous votes, fund work to clear outstanding project closeouts (BG-5s) and pay for an early site contract so crews can begin earthmoving and blasting while building design continues. Bond counsel and the district’s design team told the board the plan is intended to speed the project while addressing a challenging subsurface condition at the site.

Derek Phillips, the architect of record for the middle school project, told the board the district will “break the project basically apart and we’re going to try to get the site moving first while we continue to design the building.” The board approved the overall site design and the early site bid package to allow contractor pricing and to begin clearing and blasting work as soon as the resulting contracts and permits are in place.

Engineers described the site as affected by pyritic, expansive soils that have caused movement at nearby structures.…