Board Holds Course on Beach School Seismic Strengthening

The end is near for the Piedmont school district’s seismic improvement plan, but the end is a little uncertain, fiscally.

The school board decided Wednesday night to move forward on the last project on the five-year list, Beach Elementary School, despite a cash shortage in the district’s bond-bolstered program for seismic strengthening.

“The Seismic Safety Bond Program Steering Committee has reviewed the data and recommends moving forward, including the solicitation of project proposals (for Beach) from developers,” wrote top administrators Connie Hubbard and Michael Brady in a report to the board.

Based on the Seismic Safety Bond Program budget and cash flow projections, combined with delays in state school construction bonding programs to support school construction all over California, Piedmont Unified School District projects a $3.7 to $4.2 million shortfall now to cover the Beach project.

The district has secured more than enough money to cover the Beach expenses, but the timing of the receipt of state funding remains in question, said Hubbard, PUSD superintendent.

Sacramento sources have assured the district it is on the “approved but unfunded” list for school projects, and high on the allocation priority list, Hubbard said.

The district could wait a year or two to let bids on Beach, hoping for definitive word on state funding, Hubbard said, but “it’s probably more costly monetarily (with construction costs escalating) and psychologically, emotionally, planning-wise, way more costly to interrupt the momentum we have going.”

The board voted 4-0 (with board member Ray Gadbois absent) to follow Hubbard’s recommendation, inviting three construction firms that have consistently bid on Piedmont school projects to submit applications to be the developer on the Beach project. The firms would be asked to commit to a Guaranteed Maximum Price on the project.

Before the vote, board member Rick Raushenbush said, “The only way the general fund is at any risk is if you believe the state of California will never sell any bonds again … there’s a risk of borrowing money for a short time before we get that state money. It’s a risk but I don’t think it’s a very big risk.”

Board Chairman Roy Tolles said, “If we got three years out and we still didn’t have the (state) funding, rather than tapping the general fund, I personally would be in favor of putting it on the ballot to see if we could get another bond measure passed.”

“I’m excited to move forward (on the project),” said Laura Katter, a Beach Elementary parent who spoke at the school board meeting.

The total Seismic Safety Bond Program project is budgeted at $69.1 million, with budgets now finalized for the middle school, high school, Havens and Ellen Driscoll Auditorium. Of the total, $56 million comes from the bond Piedmont voters passed in 2006.

Projects still to complete are Wildwood, interim housing and Beach. The Beach project shows $7.74 million committed to it, plus a contingency account of $1.12 million.

Plans for the Beach project were approved by the Division of the State Architect on March 15.