Butterfield school renovation begins
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65042/
Construction workers have started some of the site preparation work for the Butterfield Trail Elementary School renovation and expansion project.
The district plans to add 28, 000 square foot to the front of the existing facility, plus a new school gymnasium, said Fred Turrentine, Fayetteville School District director of school plant services.
Construction workers have already built a new entry way to the school with temporary rocks to begin the site work preparation. Turrentine said that entry point will eventually be paved and become a second driveway for the school.
“ That one new entrance you see will also be permanent, ” he said. “ It will sure improve traffic flow on the street. ”
Traffic currently backs up onto the street during peak drop-off and pick-up times before and after school.
The school recently received permission from its northern neighbor, Fayetteville Health and Rehabilitation Center, to add a temporary parking lot for school employees over the property line, Turrentine added.
Teachers may begin using it before school is out this year, he said.
“ It’ll probably take a week to construct this temporary lot, ” Turrentine said.
Students will continue taking classes in the existing facility while the addition, scheduled to be finished by Jan. 1, 2009, is being built.
Once the addition is finished, the district will move classes into the new rooms and four portable buildings while a complete interior remodel is being done to the existing facility, Turrentine said.
The remodel, which will change the existing open classroom floor plan to closed classrooms, will be done by July 2009, Turrentine said.
As part of the change, the district will also add 73 new trees because some existing trees will have to be torn down for the expansion. This will enable the district to comply with the city’s tree preservation ordinance.
The replacement trees will include nine red maples, 29 star magnolias, two red oak, nine pin oaks, seven laced bark elm trees and 17 bald cypress trees, Turrentine said.
“ They’ll go in the front and both of the sides, ” he said. “ We’re sure adding a lot of trees. ”
Some large trees that will be preserved have orange construction fences placed around them so they are not removed.
The project is expected to increase the school’s capacity to 600 students in grades K-5. The model is five kindergarten classrooms and four classrooms in the higher grades, Turrentine said.
The district also plans to get the redesigned building a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification rating from the U. S. Green Building Council. If approved, it would make Butterfield the district’s first certified green building.