Crested Butte School expansion ahead of schedule

Town barn to be moved Tuesday

The sighs of relief and the laughter of kids being set free for the summer were still echoing in the halls of the Crested Butte Community School when the rumble of heavy equipment moved in.

The students had just left on the afternoon of Friday, May 29 when demolition began in parts of the school, a bulldozer was tearing up the sod on the Tommy V baseball field next door and pieces of the town barn were being stacked and moved away.
The school renovation has started.
In the early stages of the project, most of the work is being done on the school grounds.
While the weather is nice, contractors are hoping to get the exterior of the 45,000 square foot expansion in place so work can continue through the winter. Smaller expansions will go up for the library and the elementary end of the school at the same time.
By the end of next summer, the renovation and expansion of the school will be complete.
For now, a conflict between construction plans and the location of utility lines has contractors with FCI Constructors Inc., which is the general contractor for the project, digging for sewer, water, electrical and gas lines so they can be moved to their new locations.
“We have electrical lines right under the spot where the building will be and the sewer line and existing lift station would be in the middle of the new addition if we don’t move them,” says Marc Litzen, project manager for the expansion and renovation of CBCS.
So far, Litzen says, things are moving along as planned, with the summer phase already ahead of schedule just a week into the project.
One of the next things to move will be one of the biggest things to move.
Sitting on a foundation of steel I-beams, the 40 foot by 70 foot town barn, has been getting special attention from a team of contractors who have been working for a week to make sure the barn is ready to move.
It is the largest and last of seven buildings on the site that need to be moved to make room for the relocated Tommy V field and next Tuesday, June 9, the hour long trek across town on Eighth Street will commence.
General superintendent for the CBCS project Charlie Evernham  says he has already talked with the marshal’s office to make sure the route will be clear.
“The marshal was going to distribute flyers on Friday to let people know the move is going to happen Tuesday and that they should keep their cars off and away from the street,” says Evernham, adding that the barn should take about an hour to move.
At the same time, topsoil from the Tommy V ballfield is being stockpiled to use in the construction and grading of what will become the new, relocated Tommy V field on the site where the town barn currently sits.
Litzen said construction planners had considered using the sod from Tommy V field as well, but they felt it would be too hard to keep the grass alive during the summer months. The new field should be ready to play on by next summer.
Bill Lacy of Lacy Construction, a Crested Butte company contracted to do the excavation and underground utilities at the CBCS site, says his crew of 10 should be busy for two to three months moving utility lines, preparing the construction site for foundations and concrete.
“There is a chance that we could be contracted to do road base work [when Ninth Street is rerouted], but that work is going to be opened up to competitive bidding so we’ll have to work for it like everyone else,” says Lacy.
Ninth Street will be rerouted this summer to allow the utilities to be laid in trenches before the street is paved.
Skye Houseman, owner of Crested Butte Electrical, has secured work at the CBCS site until the project is completed next year. His company has been contracted to do all of the electrical work for the expansion and renovation, except some relocation of utilities that will be handled by the Gunnison County Electrical Association.
“We are going to be working on anything electrical on site. There’s power associated with the town barn that had to be disconnected, we’re reconnecting power to that sewer lift station and we’re wiring the lights in the bus parking area,” says Houseman.
The foundation for the expansions will be poured sometime around June 11 and the modular buildings at the elementary end of the school will be moved 90 degrees to allow contractors to access the area and start the expansion at that end of the school.
Inside the school, the kitchen is the biggest part of the renovation taking place right now and the “demolition is essentially done,” according to Evernham. That part of the project will be completed throughout the summer until the large items that have been ordered arrive.
Evernham, Lacy and Houseman all agree that, so far, the project to expand and renovate CBCS is moving along as planned.
“So far, everything’s running smoothly. We’re already a day ahead of schedule just two days in,” says Evernham.