South Kingstown council hears detailed high school schedule; approves project labor agreement

The South Kingstown Town Council received an extended project update on Monday about plans to replace South Kingstown High School and voted to authorize a project labor agreement intended to streamline construction bidding and keep the schedule on track.

The update, delivered by the school project team and construction managers, focused on a compressed list of approvals and early-construction actions the team said are necessary to meet the goal of opening the new building for the first day of school in 2027. Chris Spiegel, with the project management firm on the job, said the team is “about halfway through the design development estimating phase” and expects cost estimates this week that will inform the next steps.

The report mapped a sequence of near-term milestones: submission of stormwater permits to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, a planning-board master-planning hearing on May 29, foundation-permit submission July 1, and a proposed early site-enabling construction contract approval in mid-July. Spiegel said those early approvals would allow the contractor to install temporary power, set up parent-drop routing and put up about a mile of construction fencing with minimal disruption to school operations.

Kate Turner, senior project manager on the job, described a one-day “estimate reconciliation” with the contractor and the project’s independent cost estimator to compare quantities and unit prices, including the impact of tariffs on long-lead items. She said the team is meeting the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) this month and plans to submit design development documents to RIDE in mid-May.

Architects presented revised floor plans and exterior renderings. Mark Rhodes of SLAM Collaborative said the design reduces the building’s horizontal footprint by about 10,000 square feet and concentrates laboratories and special programs to improve mechanical efficiency and program adjacency. Designer Phil Conte reviewed the site plan, saying the design separates parent drop-off, student parking and a bus loop to reduce queuing on adjacent streets and that planners had relocated an entry point to address abutter concerns.

The team also briefed the council on environmental soil borings already completed at the high school and the Curtis Corner athletic-field site; results are at the lab and may affect soil handling, the report said. Spiegel told the council soil and groundwater testing “is impactful to our cost and schedule” and that the project team is doing the sampling now to avoid later delays.

Dylan Conley, the town’s outside attorney on labor matters, recommended the council adopt a project labor agreement (PLA) for the construction work. Conley said a PLA operates like a project-specific collective-bargaining agreement and that on publicly funded, prevailing-wage school projects the expected cost differences historically cited as objections to PLAs are eliminated. The council voted to approve the PLA (motion carried; transcript records a unanimous “Aye”), authorizing staff to proceed with the agreement.

Why it matters: The high school project is the largest single capital undertaking in the town’s near-term budget and will require coordinated approvals from multiple state agencies, the planning board, and construction contracts timed to summer work windows. The PLA approval indicates the council and staff want to reduce procurement risk and speed early-construction activity, but the timeline depends on several outside approvals.

What comes next: The project team said it will present final design-development documents to the School Building Committee and to RIDE in mid-May and return to the council with requests for the site-enabling construction contract and the early guaranteed maximum price (GMP) in July and August. The team emphasized that if any of the near-term dates slip, meeting the target 2027 opening will become more difficult.

Several council members and staff asked for increased public communication about site logistics for the first day of school, including the location of temporary fencing, parent drop-off routing, and bus operations. The project team agreed to post the presentation materials and additional construction-logistics information to the project web page following the meeting.

Ending: Town leaders said they want to keep the project timeline intact and that the PLA was adopted to support that schedule; staff emphasized continued public outreach and more detailed material boards and renderings before final approvals.