Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And it isn't over yet.
At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, the School Board presented the low bids for renovations at Botetourt Intermediate and construction of Cloverdale Middle School.
Avis Construction Co. Inc. of Roanoke made the low bid for Botetourt Intermediate at $4,996,429, and Thor Inc. of Roanoke made the low bid for Cloverdale at $9,144,690.
Superintendent Clarence McClure characterized the bidding as highly competitive, but the bids still came in $541,119 over budget - not including architecture and engineering fees of about $500,000.
Those fees already were paid by the county; however, the county can opt to have the School Board repay them, McClure said.
McClure added he wasn't surprised that the project's cost exceeded the $13.6 million that the bond referendum to fund it projected.
Some board members, however, were.
``We haven't even started yet, and we're $1 million from where we thought we'd be,'' Board Chairman Robert Layman said with a laugh.
McClure is no stranger to school projects going over budget. James River High School renovations ballooned from $900,000 at the project's inception to $1,900,000 at its completion because of additions.
He said he had warned board members of cost increases on this project as well.
``I've been saying to anyone who would listen that [the $13.6 million] was based on an old estimate,'' McClure said. ``In December 1993, I asked the architects to update the cost.''
What they found was that construction costs had increased from $59 per square foot to $65 or $70, McClure said.
The amount of the referendum was adjusted by $200,000, but that wasn't enough.
So the board decided to approve the bids without $509,416 in construction add-ons at Cloverdale. Those alternatives include two health classrooms, an auxiliary gym, an agriculture laboratory, a backup chiller and four additional classrooms. ``All of the alternatives are needed, and to get [six] classrooms for $250,000 is a steal,'' said School Board Chairman Ray Sprinkle.
Layman argued: It's only a steal if you can come up with $500,000.
Even without the proposed additions, the project fund still is about $31,000 short.
Layman said the board will evaluate its budget to see if it can afford to foot the bill for the half-million dollar additions at Cloverdale, or if it will only make up the $31,000 difference. It is to decide at its February meeting.
Contracts will be awarded to Avis and Thor this week, and ground should be broken on the projects in about three weeks, McClure said. Completion is set for September 1996.
by CNB