School board approves Alameda Elementary schoolyard contract with Trust for Public Land

The Ontario SD 8C Board of Directors on June 2 approved an agreement with the Trust for Public Land that allows the district and the nonprofit to proceed toward bidding and constructing a redesigned schoolyard at Alameda Elementary.

The agreement, presented by Kristen Kovalik of the Trust for Public Land and landscape architect Ashley Ludwig, authorizes the district to move to procurement with a not-to-exceed budget tied to the project’s original design while retaining flexibility to use a smaller, modified design if the state funding request is not approved.

Kovalik said the project team has secured $950,000 in private and public grants to date and has a pending funding request in the state capital construction budget. “To date, we’ve been able to raise $950,000 toward the project,” Kovalik said. She told the board the legislature’s decision, expected in the coming week, will determine whether the project can be built as originally envisioned or must be reduced in scope.

Ashley Ludwig said the team prepared a reduced footprint that keeps many of the planned features but trims some elements to lower cost. “We tightened the footprint of the schoolyard,” Ludwig said. She described retaining a large play structure, accessible features, a musical play area, a covered multipurpose court and a swing area while removing an orchard, volleyball court and some older-kid specific hangouts in the scaled design.

Board members discussed design details, public access and cost. A board member noted two different original budget figures mentioned during the presentation — approximately $1.03 million and, in a separate reference, $1.3 million — and asked the team to clarify that final cost will be determined by competitive bids. Kovalik and Ludwig said bids have not yet been solicited and that the agreement would allow them to bid the smaller or original design depending on funding.

The board also debated the size of a covered multipurpose structure. The original design included a coverage roughly the size of a high-school basketball court (described in the meeting as about 60 by 90 feet); the reduced design trims that to about 50 by 80 feet to save cost. The project team said the change reduces cost by roughly $40,000 compared with the larger cover, a figure the board discussed as potentially bridgeable through community fundraising. Ludwig said the smaller covered structure still allows indoor-outdoor use for PE and rainy-day recess.

The schoolyard will be sited between the school building and the back parking lot, the presenters said, and will be accessible for school use and public use. Ludwig said the design preserves a vehicle access path for maintenance and will include a rolling gate to control nonauthorized vehicles while allowing necessary deliveries and service access.

Board members voted to approve the agreement to proceed to bidding and construction planning. The motion passed by voice vote. After the vote, a board member who had expressed a preference for the larger covered structure said his yes vote was conditioned on the project team continuing to discuss final size and cost with district staff.

Next steps identified by the Trust for Public Land and the district include (1) awaiting the legislature’s decision on the capital construction request, (2) finalizing bid documents for either the original or scaled design, and (3) returning to the board with updates on awarded contracts and a construction schedule. Kovalik said the team hoped to secure a general contractor this summer and complete construction before fall if funding and bids align.

The board asked the district and Trust for Public Land to pursue any additional fundraising needed to restore trimmed features, and to return with a clear summary of the final bid amounts and a recommendation before construction begins.