Galena Park ISD board approves schematic design for Cimarron Elementary replacement

The Galena Park Independent School District Board of Trustees on April 14 approved the schematic design for a replacement Cimarron Elementary School as presented by S. Chu Architects Incorporated.

The schematic envisions a two‑story classroom wing to avoid removing significant portions of the existing gymnasium and to allow the school to remain in operation through construction. The design includes a community clinic attached to the north end with a separate exterior entry and separate parking; school access to the clinic will be controlled with an access card system. The plan shows a detention area at the southeast corner and a proposed “spar park” to the north between drives.

The district’s facilities director, Ed Martier, and architect Madeline Chu described the site layout and phasing. Chu said the team will submit drawings to the City of Houston for permitting and expects to put the project out to bid by the end of the year, with construction starting early next year. “It takes 18 months for the building to be finished. So that put us to May of 2027,” Chu said. After the new building opens, the plan calls for demolition of remaining areas and parking work, with a goal to complete those pieces before the 2028 school year.

The presentation noted the new classroom wing would occupy the lower‑left corner of the site so the existing school can operate during construction; a temporary fence will separate construction from campus activities. Architects said the two‑story option preserved program space that would have been lost under a single‑story replacement and produced a more efficient layout. The schematic identifies the school entry and visitor parking off King/Sitmar‑style drives, pre‑K and kindergarten suites, fine‑arts spaces, library access for all grades, and a bus loading area sized for the school’s two‑to‑three buses.

Community members at the meeting pressed the district about parking for occasional large events, such as kindergarten or fifth‑grade graduations, noting local streets and grass parking at nearby North Shore Elementary fill during those events. Martier said, because the site is inside the City of Houston, the district must complete a traffic impact analysis; that study will determine required parking and whether perimeter parking can be retained or must be improved. He said the district will seek to maximize off‑street parking but that some drive or grading changes could be required by the city during the next design phase.

On stormwater, architects said the drainage on the site is shallow and they expect detention depth to be limited (they estimated roughly 4 feet); they said final depth and any requirement for fencing will be resolved in design development. Spark Park (as presented at the meeting) expressed interest in partnering to renovate the existing park that would be removed for the new building.

During public questions the project team said the new school is being sized for current enrollment (roughly 700 students) rather than the larger historical peak; they noted the new building will be more efficient to operate. The architects stated the building area figures in the presentation; the design team said the new classroom building footprint and parking layouts will be refined during design development.

The board approved the schematic design 7–0. The motion was made by Trustee Adrienne Stevens and seconded by Trustee Linda Sherrard.

Next steps described in the presentation include completing the City of Houston traffic impact analysis, advancing design development with the principal and campus stakeholders, and returning to the board with updates on detailed parking, detention, and cost reconciliation.