The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Work to begin
Pleasant Ridge to get new bus loop, parking lot
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
As soon as students file out of Pleasant Ridge Elementary for the last time before beginning summer break June 10, contracting crews will be poised to move in and begin major construction on the building.
Advertisement
The estimated $500,000 project will include the construction of a new bus loop, a new parking lot and a new drop-off loop, as well as the removal of some sidewalks and relocation of the playground, said Doug Bacon, the school district's director of facilities.
"The reason behind this is because we have some severe problems with the building," Bacon said. "We've had water problems there for a long time."
Groundwater has caused some sidewalks to buckle and crack and the parking lots to crumble in places.
The district set out last summer to find out where the groundwater was coming from and test boring revealed some structural problems that led administrators to conclude repairs were needed right away.
Bacon said "extensive underground work" would "terminate the problem."
The project will include creating fenced-off retention ponds that in times of heavy rain will hold water until it can be siphoned off into the drain sewer, Bacon said. The ponds will be planted with prairie grass.
The new parking lot will create around 75 additional parking spots.
The Pleasant Ridge Elementary Parent-Teacher Association will determine the location and type of the new playground. Funding for the project is coming from district bond money, Bacon said.
A contractor for the project is expected to be selected in early May after bids are reviewed May 2.
Bacon said he expected the construction work to be completed before school starts up again in the fall.
"I promised the teachers they would be in the school when school starts," he said.
Pleasant Ridge Elementary School opened in 1991 next door to Jensen School. Jensen was razed the following year. Pleasant Ridge originally housed second through fifth grades and now houses first through fourth grades.
An informational meeting on the project will be held 5:30 p.m. May 5 in the school's cafeteria and is open to the public. Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Tom Wall and Bacon will speak about the project and field questions.
"We're going to do some things a little bit differently and really make the school a showcase," Bacon said.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
