It’s back to the drawing board for the long-anticipated renovation of the Santa Maria High School library.

Construction on the library overhaul hit a snag this week when bids for the project came in at $900,000 over what the cost budgeted by the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, and nearly twice what the district had initially planned to set aside for the project.

Thus, the board of education voted Monday not to accept any bids on the project in order to allow for the architect to re-evaluate the original blueprint and devise a more cost-effective building plan.

Superintendent Jeff Hearn said the district may rebid project within 30 days if all goes well.

While this setback means the library won’t open in the coming school year as once hoped, it will be ready for students by the start of the 2009-2010 academic year, district officials say.

“There were quite a number of people who submitted bids on (the project), which was encouraging,” Hearn said. “Over the next month, we’ll be working with the architect and the school site to see where we can cut back to make it more in line with the money we have available.”

In 2004, voters passed a $79.4 million bond to build a fourth comprehensive high school and upgrade facilities at the existing schools.

Advertisement

Included in Measure C was a $2 million overhaul of Santa Maria High’s 10,945-square-foot library, a multipurpose facility that was a cafeteria when it was built in the 1950s, before being partially converted to double as a library roughly 30 years ago.

While declining enrollment has forced district officials to place plans for a fourth high school on hold, plans for the renovations and remodeling detailed in the bond are in full swing, with the library high on the list of priorities.

Since the bond’s passage, rising construction costs and other factors have made it necessary for the district to add $900,000 to the library project, bringing it to an estimated $2.9 million, Hearn said.

As part of the overhaul, construction workers will gut the building and bring it up to code.

All kitchen and food preparation equipment will go, in order to make room for new flooring, windows and shelving, among a vast number of other improvements.

The current plans also call for special architectural touches, such as curved walls and wood columns, which construction experts say contributed to the high-priced bids on the project.

According to the Santa Maria Valley Contractors Association, the lowest bid came in at $3.022 million.

“It was very competitive bidding between awfully-reputable contractors,” association Executive Director Robin Hayhurst said, adding that the recent economic downturn has hit contractors especially hard.

“I know they’re all bidding on an extremely low margin to keep their crews working,” she said.

However, the lowest bid did not include lead or asbestos abatement, architect fees, Division of State Architect inspection fees and other “hidden” costs, which would have bumped up the project total to about $3.8 million, said Assistant Superintendent of Business Diane Bennett.

District officials did not dispute Hayhurst’s claims, but, rather, reiterated the need to scale the project down.

“There’s going to be some trade-offs,” Bennett said. “We simply cannot afford that.”

For now, Santa Maria High students will have to carry on until the library is finally complete.

A vacant classroom was cleared out to serve as a temporary library, and students can take advantage of the brand new Santa Maria Public Library, which has two classrooms set aside primarily for the district’s use under a special agreement between the city of Santa Maria and the district.

The new city library opens Aug. 23.

City Librarian Jack Buchanan said the public library has always had a strong relationship with local students, and the renovation of Santa Maria High’s library will simply “intensify the use” his library receives.

“Fortunately, with this new (city) library we’ll be better equipped to deal with that,” he said.

Natalie Ragus can be reached at 347-4580 or nragus@santamariatimes.com

July 19, 2008