Public gets look at CBCS plan

No changes made after the discussion

As the Crested Butte Community School is being prepared for an expansion and renovation project set to begin this spring, people interested in the plan were invited to tour the building with the architect last Thursday, January 22, and provide suggestions or ask questions about the school’s future.

The plans for the school are nearing completion now that the school’s teachers and staff have been consulted on the space requirements and layout they hope to see in their new building.
To make sure everyone with a stake in the school had a chance to provide input on its design, Roy Blythe, owner of the Blythe Group and Company, which is managing the project, was looking for input from the public.
“The Blythe Group is trying to get the drawings finalized so they can get them to the cost estimators to create a budget. Once the budget is in place and they make sure everything fits, they will be able to move ahead with the construction,” says superintendent Jon Nelson.
According to Nelson, there were no changes made to the plans after the tour.
The plan shows expansions that will add onto four separate areas of the building. The largest area to the south of the school would contain 16 additional classrooms, a second gymnasium with weight room and locker rooms, and a music room. All of those areas would be shared by the middle school and high school.
“Even though grades kindergarten through the 12th grade are all in the same building, we wanted to give the elementary-aged kids some separation from the high school kids and at the same time give the older kids some autonomy. This plan will keep that separation and give everyone what they need in the school,” says Blythe.
Another addition would be built at the opposite end of the building that would be two stories, with four classrooms and an office upstairs and down for the elementary school. A third addition would provide a computer room and expanded space for the library. The final small addition would provide additional storage.
The current school building was built for 350 students more than a decade ago and already has more than 515 students attending, with projections showing that the school will continue to grow.
“The tour of the school was all about hearing what the public had to say,” says Nelson. “The Blythe Group had been working with the staff and the administration to get the building designed as far as they could and then they wanted to hear from the public.”
Although the tour attracted only about a dozen people, school board president MJ Vosburg says, “Most of the reactions to the plan have been very good. There has been a good reaction from people about the choice of FCI as the general contractor.”
“Having the teachers from each school involved in the planning and design process has given us a really great level of detail and has, I think, given everyone the feeling that they were a part of the process, or at least had the option to be,” says Vosburg.
As the plans for others schools in the district near completion, tours of the school sites and opportunities for public input will be scheduled.