High school renovation moves forward; zoning, utilities and permits advance as district breaks project into bid packages

Design consultants and district staff told the Facilities and Operations Committee on Feb. 24 that the North Penn High School renovation has advanced on zoning, utility coordination and early bid packaging while the project team refines phasing to keep building systems operational during construction.

The update summarized recent milestones: conditional approval of the E&S (erosion and sediment) permit, ongoing code review for Phase 1, communications with PECO on electrical requirements, draft legal documents returned by North Penn Water and Sewer Authority about water meter pits, and a notice-to-proceed issued to prime contractors for Bid Pack 1. Consultants said several items remain to be resolved, including additional soil/infiltration borings requested by the Montgomery County Conservation District and a zoning hearing board filing targeted for April.

Colin Case, a representative from CHA working on the project, said the team issued a notice to proceed to the four prime contractors for Bid Pack 1 and that work is scheduled to begin on site this summer, with the natatorium work starting in late May or early June. Case described planned summer utility work to install new water meter pits and relocate a fuel tank (propane relocation is pending township approval) to make room for additions and site phasing.

The project has been split into multiple bid packages to shorten duration and maintain building operations during construction. Case described the planned phasing: bid package 1 includes the natatorium and K Pod work; bid package 2 involves the pod addition and multiple pod renovations (A, C, portions of B) with site staging; and bid package 3 will group larger, mechanically-fed spaces (auditorium, gyms, tech ed, central plant) together because they share the central plant systems. The team is evaluating whether to renovate or demolish and replace one round classroom cluster known as J Pod because of challenging structural conditions; a cost evaluation and recommendation were expected by next month’s meeting.

Permitting and utilities updates

- Zoning: The team has submitted items for the township zoning hearing board and is targeting an April hearing for three critical zoning items.

- PECO/Electrical: Schneider Hoffman and the project team have been coordinating new electrical requirements with PECO; the pre-purchase electrical gear procurement is being revised after PECO responses (staff received PECO feedback Jan. 23 and Feb. 18) and is expected to return to the board on March 20 for award of the low bid.

- Water and sewer: Legal drafts from North Penn Water and Sewer Authority related to new water meter pits and conveyance of existing lines are under district review; the plan is to install new meter pits under Bid Pack 1 and deactivate existing pits.

- Conservation district: Montgomery County Conservation District requested additional infiltration testing and bedrock coring that was not part of the original scope; staff issued a plan for pricing from drilling/environmental contractors and will return to the committee with the cost for those borings.

Schedule, phasing and abatement

Case said the district has 50% design development documents for Phase 2 and is performing constructability reviews. The revised phasing anticipates multiple summers of active site and building work, staged to reduce disruption to students and to take advantage of summer break. Abatement packages for hazardous materials will be bid alongside renovation bid packages, with separate abatement contractors phased to precede renovation work in each pod.

Transportation and towers

The transportation building design is in development; the team is resolving existing grades at the rear of the transportation site to allow phased turnover of a new building before demolition of the old one. The AM radio tower demolition and design package is out, with a pre-bid meeting scheduled the day after the committee meeting; the towers will be removed in summer work to open staging areas for construction while radio service is maintained.

Budget, bids and soft costs

Jamie Lynch (covering for Colin Case at one point) told the committee that Bid Pack 1 results came in substantially under budget, creating potential savings to apply in later phases. Board members asked whether CHA’s recent corporate changes (a referenced acquisition) could create internal efficiencies that translate into lower soft costs; district staff said the contract with CHA remains in force and any efficiencies would not automatically change existing contract pricing, though the team said it would seek savings where possible in later phases.

Network room HVAC and contingency work

Facilities staff reported repeated failures in the HVAC system that serves the district’s central data/network room and said they will accelerate replacement work outside the main construction contract because the network hub supports districtwide communications. Staff recommended procuring a primary replacement unit and a backup system and said the existing R-22 system is at end-of-life and has required recurring refrigerant charges. Committee members discussed redundancy options and whether a longer-term migration to more distributed or cloud-based architectures should be considered; district technology staff noted some off-site redundancies exist through the Intermediate Unit (IU) but the high school room remains the main physical hub for district systems.

Turf and athletic fields

Facilities staff presented a natural-turf maintenance and improvement plan for high school baseball, softball and soccer fields: five seasonal treatments (fertilization, pre-emergent, broadleaf control, pH work, overseeding/aeration and top-dressing) and options for above- or below-ground irrigation. Staff reported a field-lighting price estimate of $570,000 per field for nighttime lighting and said they are collecting prices for bleachers, infield turf (infield-only turf estimates provided by a community contractor ranged between about $300,000 and $400,000), and full-field artificial-turf options. The district plans to coordinate field work with coaches to minimize schedule disruptions.

What remains next

Staff said notices to proceed were issued to Bid Pack 1 prime contractors the afternoon of Feb. 24 and that upcoming work includes summer utility and staging work, abatement procurement timed with renovation packages, additional conservation district borings, and zoning hearing board appearances. The project team will return with cost evaluations (notably for J Pod options) and the results of additional testing and bid packages in future committee meetings.

Select quotes from the meeting

- "We've had a lot of progress being made on the high school project," Colin Case, CHA representative, said as he outlined permitting and bid-pack milestones.

- "Phase 1 came in significantly under budget," Jamie Lynch said when describing early bid results and potential savings to apply later.

- "This is the main hub. If this hub goes down, it could essentially take down all the buildings," Bill Slaughter said when explaining the urgency to replace the HVAC that serves the district network room.

The committee did not take formal votes on the project update (it was presented as an informational item); staff will return with cost updates and requests for approvals on work packages and additional testing as costs and bids are finalized.