Lakes Middle School proposal draws crowd
About 50 people took up the Coeur d’Alene School District’s offer to comment Monday night on the proposal to build a new Lakes Middle School.
Most of them were neighbors who voiced concerns about the idea to shift the school a few miles south to Persons Field, which is jointly owned by the city and district.
Concerns they raised included increased traffic on roads that can barely handle trucks, let alone school buses, higher property taxes and the loss of open space. Some neighbors said there’s a halfway house near the proposed school site; that could not be confirmed Monday night and district Superintendent Harry Amend said he wasn’t aware of such a facility.
“You guys haven’t done your homework,” said neighbor David Wilson. Wilson said he enjoys the green space of Persons Field and hearing the crowds cheering at sporting events. “Now I have to look forward to the honking, the beeping, the buses.”
Others, like neighbor Bruce MacNeil, said they have a commitment to education but wish the district had consulted with them before the planning process had come this far.
The school district’s long-range planning committee has outlined five building priorities that will likely be put to voters in March: replacing Lakes Middle School, building a new elementary school, and remodeling Winton and Borah elementary schools and Canfield Middle School.
The estimated price tag for the levy had been about $50 million. But Amend said Monday that it would likely be less because one of the five building priorities will probably be taken off the list.
A Lakes remodel was initially included in the $23 million levy voters approved three years ago. But increased construction costs meant the Lakes Middle School remodel had to be dropped from the district’s project list.
The school district now says remodeling the 55-year-old building would cost more than building a new Lakes Middle School.
Classrooms in the existing school are 600 to 700 square feet, whereas typical classrooms in modern schools are 900 square feet to make room for computers and other modern teaching aids, said Mike Patano, the project’s architect. The gym and locker rooms are also too small, Patano said.
“Today, functionally, it’s obsolete,” Patano said of the school.
Building a new school would cost about $17 million. Four years ago, the cost of remodeling the school was estimated at $10 million, but that didn’t include expanded classrooms and other increased space needs, said district business manager Steve Briggs.
District officials said Monday night that they did not have a more current cost figure for remodeling, but would get that information before the City Council meeting on Dec. 7, when council members may decide whether to allow a school to be built on Persons Field. The building request was denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this month, based on neighbors’ open space concerns, so the school district has appealed to the council.
The district has not determined what the current building will be used for if a new school is built. Amend said it could be an administrative building or magnet elementary school, or sold to the highest bidder.
That uncertainty troubled some people who showed up to the meeting, including Ann Seddon. She brought up the possibility of the land being sold to a developer, who might then build apartments, bringing in new residents who would further crowd the school.
Not everyone spoke against the plan. Roger Snyder, a parent and former member of the long-range planning committee, said vigorous discussions take place in the group to balance educational needs, cost effectiveness and the community’s feelings.
“There clearly will be impact,” Snyder conceded, but he said the positives will outweigh the negatives. “This is long overdue, having a modernized Lakes school.”