TCUSD3 Building Committee discusses building projects
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Elyse Clayton
Breeze Courier
TAYLORVILLE — On Tuesday, the Taylorville Building Committee met to discuss more in-depth plans for the east wing building project. The proposed plan tears down the full east wing and gymnasium, replacing it with a large, three-court field house and an auditorium, as well as a new choir room, special education classrooms, a band room remodel and a TommyTV studio, among other features.
The architects working on the project showed a conceptual design presentation with rough blue prints, inspiration photos and a mock-up of the entrance.
They are working towards a schematic design submission for July 26, 2022 and are obtaining sub-consultant agreements (including consultants for environmental, geotechnical, civil, theatrical and acoustical /audio-visual aspects). They will have recommendations at the next committee meeting.
The committee and visitors expressed their pleasure with the mock-up of the main entrance to the complex. However, Lee Mateer brought up a possible issue regarding school security with the mainly glass entrance. The designers will keep it in mind for future discussion.
They expanded more on both scheme A (scaled-down) and scheme D (full field house and arts complex), though much is still to be determined.
The architects said that they will have a minimum of 450 seats in the auditorium in either scheme, including the required amount of handicap-accessible seats.
The different levels of the build will connect to current floors, so everything should be accessible using the existing elevator.
Dr. Ronald Mizer, Vice President of the board, mentioned that the field house may be the easiest to scale back should the school not raise enough money for the fully-fledged project. The three-court plan could easily be changed to one or two courts, which could be upgraded later on much easier than an auditorium. The architects expressed that their price estimates are very broad, and they can cut costs in a lot of different places. It’s easier to plan for larger and scale back, they said, than to plan too small and have to scale up.
The annual school musical is still trying to work out their plan for the two years of the project, as they will not have access to the stage. They have moved the 2023 musical up a week already to hopefully use the stage that year, and the 2024 performance may be held at the junior high or another location outside the high school.
Anticipated milestones for the project include:
Drawings complete – December 2022
Bids due – January/February 2023
Construction starts – March/April 2023
Construction complete – August 2024
The group is also working on North School bathrooms, west gym ceiling fans, temporary parking at the former tennis court area and temporary locker relocation from the east wing. They adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
