Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools receives $160 million plan for renovations

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is ready for its facelift.

A $160.84 million plan for renovating the oldest buildings in the district was presented to the CHCCS Board of Education last month.

The money would be used to make necessary renovations and repairs the district’s 10 oldest schools and facilities. The Moseley Architects plan has been well received by members of the board.

“I think there are needs that need to be addressed and I think this is the best plan if we can get the money,” said James Barrett, a member on the board.

The renovations are expected to take between six and seven years, said Ashley Dennis, senior associate at Moseley Architects.

The board will be able to use $57.6 million already saved for projects that would increase the total capacity of the school district, but the rest of the funding will have to come from other sources, according to a memorandum from the district.

Barrett said the remainder of the money for the project will hopefully come from a bond referendum that would appear on the ballot for the November 2014 elections.

In order to get a referendum on the ballot, the board will first need approval from the Orange County Board of Commissioners. If the commissioners accept the proposal, then the residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro will be able to vote on the issue.

“I think the county commissioners understand that we don’t want to have subpar buildings that are not safe and not functional for educating our students,” Barrett said.

The 10 buildings evaluated by Moseley Architects are between 42 and 64 years old.

The district has only issued bond referendums twice since 1997, something that board member Andrew Davidson said he thinks will work in the board’s favor.

“I am hopeful that Board of County Commissioners will understand that we have not issued a bond referendum for schools since 2001,” Davidson said.

The last two bonds raised $51.6 million total and paid for the construction of Rashkis Elementary, Smith Middle School, additions to East Chapel Hill High School and partial funding for Carrboro High School.

Moseley Architects has been used by the district for projects in the past. Davidson said that the firm was about $500,000 under budget during their building of Northside Elementary School, the district’s newest school.

“It’s a really good first step, and it’s going to do a good job of informing our board on how we can proceed working with the board of county commissioners to ensure that we have the necessary funding to take care of our long term capital needs in the district,” Davidson said.

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