ROARING SPRING — Six options for potential upgrades and renovations to district buildings were presented to the Spring Cove School Board during a feasibility study update at its meeting Monday evening, with costs ranging from $38.15 million to $84.8 million.

The feasibility study comes as the district has experienced about an 11% enrollment decrease in the last 10 years, Joseph Crabtree, principal project manager at Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates, said during a facility study update at the board’s Oct. 23, 2024, meeting.

Crabtree and studio director Larry Levato said when comparing the enrollment with building capacity, the district isn’t “far off” state Department of Education recommendation guidelines, noting the study looked at the use rate for the district’s buildings, along with how the spaces are used.

On Monday, Levato said it was the first time board members would be seeing the options and that they can “make edits and come back again” based on suggestions or comments.

The first option presented was “a cost upgrade.”

“Basically, this is maintaining your grade levels,” Levato said. “This is bringing your secondary buildings, middle school and high school, up to current codes and standards.”

Costing between about $38.15 million and $43.8 million, the first option would refresh the two buildings’ interiors, meet accessibility needs and work on mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, as well as fire alarms. Levato said the cost would be for both buildings and could be cut in half if they only opt to “do one building.”

The first option wouldn’t provide additional program or flex spaces like gymnasiums.

“This is really focusing on all the systems in the building to extend the life of them,” Levato said.

He stressed that “there’s a lot of unknowns on the plumbing systems within these buildings” and recommended, if this option were chosen, to “do a lot of scoping to really understand the nature” of what lies beneath the buildings.

Levato said option two was “very similar” to option one, in that it focuses on the district’s secondary buildings. While it still wouldn’t add things like gymnasiums, “we could pick up some of those educational spaces.” The cost was also relatively similar to the first option.

Option three would be “a realignment of the grades” as it would have grades three through six in one building and grades seven through 12 in another, while Martinsburg Elementary became a kindergarten through second grade building. It would include everything from options one and two and “probably create about 75,000 square feet of additions.”

“Spring Cove would host four grade levels to utilize its excess capacity,” Levato said. “The high school would receive additions that create a secondary campus or a secondary school complex.”

There would be “some shared resources within that high school complex” such as the cafeteria, lab spaces and family and consumer science spaces.

The estimated cost for option three is between $66.5 million and $73.16 million.

Option four would see Martinsburg and Spring Cove elementaries maintain their grade alignments, while Central High School would house grades six through 12. While similar to option three, Levato said the “cost is higher” with more square footage at $69.1 million to $75.9 million.

Option five would be “the same seven-12 concept” with Spring Cove housing four grade levels. It also included closing the high school and middle school to design “a whole new secondary building.”

“It’s a similar project, right about 182,000 square feet for that secondary school complex,” Levato said.

Option five does not “factor in any site acquisition costs,” with project cost estimated to be between $77.1 million and $84.8 million.

Option six “is not drastically different” but adds “probably another 8,000 square feet or so.”

“Now we’re in the mid-80 million range,” Levato said. “I know the numbers are wild.”

Board member Chuck Gojmerac asked if any new gymnasium additions would provide a greater capacity than its current 750, to which Levato said its gyms would be able to hold between 2,200 and 2,400 people.

“You’re talking about a 15,000- or 16,000-square-foot gymnasium to host those students,” Levato said.

Board member Linda Smith asked that the last two options be taken out of consideration as they exceeded the district’s borrowing power.

“We’re about $63 million or so,” Smith said.

Board member Amy Acker-Knisely said they would need to go over their list of priorities before they started getting into possible projects, such as a wrestling room or pitching barn to replace the facilities at Bean Hill.

“Let’s be honest, that’s what we all want,” Acker-Knisely said. “We want what’s best for our students.”

Levato said the district’s next steps would be to think about their long-term planning.

“The typical design process can be between 10 to 12 months or more,” Levato said. “Land development could be upwards of 12 months. Construction work on a school building could be everywhere from 16 to 24 months.”

And, considering the district’s financial picture, Levato said it could be a couple years before things got started.

“That’s why I said something like the high school roof, you could do that now,” Levato said. “That could be taken out of that project in the future. If you even do systemic upgrades at the high school, that’s not going to impact that roof down the road.”

The board later in the meeting approved the replacement of Central High School’s roof for about $2.7 million.