Construction on No. 9 elementary in Cascadia to begin in July
By Dennis Box – The Courier-Herald
The Sumner School District will begin construction of Elementary No. 9 school on the Cascadia development site in July.
The school board accepted a $13.2 million bid by Berschauer Phillips from Olympia at its June 18 board meeting.
Cascadia is a 6,500 home, planned community on the south Plateau. The northern tip of the subdivision begins at about 198th Avenue East and about 120th Street East and it will stretch south to the Carbon River.
Cascadia has delayed building the first homes, but the district decided it was time to move ahead with the school.
“We've been waiting a long time for this school,” Assistant Superintendent Craig Spencer said. “It's exciting to get started.”
The development has seven schools planned for the community. The entire subdivision is expected to take about 20 years to complete.
Spencer said the building permits are completed and ready to be picked up by the contractor.
The school is designed for kindergarten through grade five and will house about 500 students.
A bond was approved for the construction in 1997 and about $10 million was placed in an interest-bearing account until construction could begin.
According to Spencer, state matching funds will not be used to build this school.
The school purchased the 14-acre site from Cascadia for $3.7 million, which included water, sewer, electrical, phone and data lines and site preparation.
“The site is ready to go,” Spencer said. “Normally we do the side work, but all the infrastructure is in.”
The district had planned to open the school in 2008, but when Cascadia delayed construction the school opening was slowed.
“Once Cascadia slowed, we reassessed,” district spokeswoman Ann Cook said. “We were planning to open the school in 2008, but we took a year to wait for the infrastructure to be completed.”
The district intends to open the school in September 2009. Kay Gallo has been named the planning principle. Gallo will also be the principal at Crestwood Elementary.
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.
