CB school campus summer projects to begin this June

Four main projects

By Katherine Nettles

Crested Butte Community School (CBCS) has at least four summer projects planned to improve the campus safety and occupancy, pumping about $300,000 into the campus. The four big projects include installing modular classrooms, removing the track around the soccer field in front of the school, and upgrading the playground and parking lot. “It will be very busy at that campus this summer,” says Paul Morgan, transportation and facilities manager director for the Gunnison Valley Watershed School District. Here’s the rundown:

Modular classrooms coming in August

The big project is the modular building, which will house two new classrooms for the secondary school. The structure, 58 feet long by 28 feet wide, is being constructed in Texas and the school is hoping to get it delivered here in the first part of August, according to Morgan. It will be situated on the backside of the CBCS building by the library.

The campus will lose some secondary teacher parking and its iconic views from the library windows, but the location was chosen to avoid the alternate site where the Mountain Roots garden classroom is established. “Because that’s such a valuable program, we agreed pretty quickly that [location] was off the table,” said RE1J superintendent Leslie Nichols. The location will also make snow removal more difficult, said Morgan, which will “be a real expense.”

The building will cost at least $200,000 and contain two classrooms for up to approximately 20 to 25 students each. The “dry unit” rooms will each have full internet, electricity and PA systems, but no water or plumbing since they will be in close enough proximity to the main building and restrooms. The district is not sure yet who will teach there. The modular will be in use until the district determines whether to expand the CBCS campus or build an additional school in the area, as part of its facilities master plan.

Picking up the old track

Beginning the second week of July, the town of Crested Butte is going to rip up the track on the western side of school, “taking away a liability of an old asphalt track that is dangerous to be on,” says Morgan. The district will not make any improvements to the soccer field at this time, Morgan noted. The plan is to put in topsoil and then hydroseed it. The district will pay $25,000 to $30,000 toward the project, and the town will rip out the track’s asphalt and concrete for free.

New playground surface

To keep prices lower for all involved, the district is going in with the town on the cost of new playground surfaces. This means CBCS will get a new playground surface June 17, and Rainbow Park will get a replacement surface the week beforehand. The “Pirate’s Playground,” to be constructed this summer at the town park, will also get its surface as part of the package. “The surface now is nice and spongy,” says Morgan of the CBCS location, “but it’s falling apart, and there are holes in many places.” This will all be torn out, removed and replaced at an estimated cost of $63,000, “which is much more affordable than other estimates,” says Nichols.

Parking lot painting

To address traffic and pedestrian safety concerns, the district decided after much consideration to simply redesign the configuration of parking. They are hoping to slurry seal, and will be re-painting the parking lines in the first part of August. “The end result is, we will improve traffic flow,” says Morgan.

The part of pavement being used as playground overflow for the primary school will stay the same.