INFORMATION #1 01-10-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

A-330 Jan. 2003: ERAAA leases a classroom at Handke for their offices. Nov. 4, 2003: Money to match (dollar for dollar) the State facilities grant is included in a $61 million bond issue which fails by 102 votes. Dec.ll, 2003: State DHS notifies us that our grant is reinstated at $500,000 level. March 30, 2004: $500,000 match for the state grant is included in successful bond election. An additional $410,000 from the March 30, 2004 bond is also allocated to the Handke project toward window and roof replacements. Summer, 2004: Handke Stadium is named to the National Registry of Historic Places. Elk River Rotary continues to improve and renovate rock-work in the stadium. ISD 728 also contributes from capitol outlay budget to the improvements. 03-04 school year: CE and ERAAA representatives continue discussions on how they will work together at Handke. Agreement is made that arts programming efforts will be done jointly as partners rather than separately, with a goal of expanding arts offerings for all ages. Fall, 2004: Artscape (joint arts programming) appears as part of the fall CE brochure. The Handke Center project is expected to be a smaller project than the construction of a new school, with the work consisting ofrenovation of much of the existing facility, as well as some new construction which will need to blend with the older original Handke. The architect will need to be skilled at both renovation and new construction, and be attentive to a comparatively small project involving both public and private dollars as well as several partners with an interest in the outcome. At a post grant award conference, representatives from the State provided information on architects experienced with early childhood design, specifically mentioning Lunning, & Wende firm. As a result of that conference, in the spring of 2004 I made further inquiries into this firm and discovered they were also very familiar with sustainable school design, and with what ISD 728 was doing. Factor 10, the consultant District 728 used to assist in architect selection processes for the design and construction of the two new elementary schools had involved Lunning/Wende in creating the RFP for use in seeking and sorting through architectural firms. At the same time, the ERAAA had informally involved KKE architects, who have been involved in many ISD 728 projects, in some preliminary idea-generating sessions, without entering into a contract. In the interests of arriving at a single architect for the expected work (for both ISD 728 and for the ERAAA), a committee consisting of 10-12 people with equal representation from the ERAAA building committee and from the Early Childhood and Community Education programs at Handke conducted interviews with both KKE and Lunning/Wende. Both firms provided fomlal presentations and responded to a series of prepared questions. As a result of that process, a consensus emerged to enter into a contract with Lunning/Wende/BVH architects for the architectural work on the Handke project. The immediate steps ahead of us include: *developing and finalizing a master plan for the Handke site. *presenting the master plan to the School Board for approval. *identifying "Phase one" work using the $1.4 million available budget for Handke (which includes the $500,000 state grant and the match from the March 30, 2004 bond election).