School’s plans not presented to city

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

— The large-scale development plan for the remodel and construction at Pea Ridge Intermediate School was not presented to the city for consideration until city building official Tony Townsend requested it.

Townsend said he learned about the project May 19 when he received notification from the state Health Department that the plan had been approved. The very next day, a representative from the gas company showed up to locate pipes before going to the site.

“I found out about (the project) when I was contacted by the (state) Health Department,” Townsend said, adding that it usually takes 30 days to get approval from the state Health Department.

Townsend said he called Gene Pierce, a representative with Lewis Architects Engineers of Little Rock, and requested the plans. Townsend received the plans Monday, May 23. Pierce was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Townsend said all previous construction projects by the Pea Ridge School District have been presented in time to be discussed at tech review meetings and then Planning Commission meetings before being presented to the City Council for final review.

Now, seven weeks after architect Steve Elliott told the School Board at their regular meeting April 11 that construction company Baldwin & Shell would begin site work and relocate utility lines within the next couple of weeks, no ground has been broken. At the April 11 meeting Elliott said he anticipated construction tobegin the first of July pending approval of the plans by the state Department of Education.

Elliott was not available for comment Tuesday.

With nothing approved by the city, it’s going to at least August before construction can start.

May 20 was the submission deadline for projects to be considered during the June 2 tech review meeting and then the July Planning Commission meeting, Townsend said.

June 17 is the deadline for the July 7 tech review meeting and the Aug. 2 Planning Commission meeting.

The $5,289,533 project was estimated to take 12 months to complete.

School superintendent Mike Van Dyke and School Board president Jenny Wood were not available for comment Tuesday.

News, Pages 1 on 06/01/2011