Bright color combinations were on display Tuesday night for the Bayfield School Board as part of moving forward to build a new school for grades 3-5 and do extensive remodeling and additions at the current elementary school to serve grades K-2.
Representatives from Chamberlain Architects in Grand Junction showed the color ideas and also options for decorative block surfaces for exterior walls. The board agreed they want bright cheerful classroom colors in amounts that aren't overwhelming.
The exception was a bright yellow that they thought was too much. Board members wanted more purple.
Board member Carol Blatnick commented that it's been a long time since board members last saw the school plans, and there have been a lot of changes since then. She also objected to smaller, higher windows in both school libraries. That's because the librarians want book shelves along the outer walls where big windows were previously shown, she was told.
The architects also met with the district's project design team Wednesday.
They'll be back for a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 13, at the high school for patrons to see the presentation, including images of classrooms and group spaces in various color combinations, along with floor plans for both schools. There will be time for questions and answers. The district will provide dinner. RSVP to 884-2496. Child care will be available. Superintendent Troy Zabel commented Tuesday, "You are going to live with whatever gets built," so decisions now are important.
District owner's representative Marty Zwisler told the school board that everything about the construction projects is on a very tight time schedule. "Some of the schedules that we're running are so time sensitive that if we miss a day, it can cost us weeks," he said.
There will be nine, and possibly 10, separate bid packages under general contractor FCI, he said. The first one, to pipe the Los Pinos Ditch through the new school property has to be re-done, so the first one now is surface grading on that site. Those bids are in and are being reviewed, he said. The board set a very short special meeting for 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 7, to approve a bid.
Zwisler advised that more special meetings like that are likely. He added that he has a notice to proceed to authorize FCI to start site preparations such as putting up construction fencing and surveying, to be ready for the dirt work. He hoped the site would dry out quickly from the heavy wet snow Monday night and on Tuesday.
Work at BES will start as soon as classes end for the summer. The board approved the 2017-18 school calendar Tuesday night, with the fall start date pushed back for BES and the end of classes in 2018 moved ahead for BES to maximize time for work this summer and next.
