Methacton board presses design team on phased high school plan, pauses October presentation

The Methacton School District board of directors on Sept. 24 pressed the design team for the high school project to match potential phased construction options to the district’s borrowing limits and agreed to pause a planned Oct. 6 informational presentation so the finance committee can review updated draw schedules and assumptions.

Design-team representatives from CHA and the Schrader Group said they are preparing phased options and updated cost estimates intended to show what parts of an Option 2B-style plan could be implemented within a roughly $120 million–$125 million borrowing scenario. Josh Christ of CHA told the board, “we're coming up with some updated budgets and pictures for what that potential project might look like,” and Devin Bradbury of the Schrader Group said the team had held two public forums with “I think about 12 people on the first one and maybe upwards of 20, 25 in the second,” and that recordings and detailed feedback are posted on the district website.

Why it matters: board members repeatedly said they need reliable, year-by-year borrowing capacity and draw schedules before asking architects and engineers to develop a…