Northampton Area School District is moving ahead on plans for a new K-5 elementary school and educational center at Seemsville Road and Route 329 in East Allen Township.

By a 5-4 vote at the meeting Feb. 14, the NASD Board of Education approved agreements totaling $4.8 million between the school district and D’Huy Engineering Inc. for professional engineering services and between the school district and Kelly Clough Bucher & Associates Inc. (KCBA Architects) for professional architect services for the project.

D’Huy will be paid $1.7 million and KCBA will be paid $3.1 million in the February to July 2025 agreements, NASD Business Administrator Matthew Sawarynski said.

D’Huy will perform engineering services in phases of pre-design, design and construction-closeout for a maximum of 50 months. The school district may terminate the agreement upon 30 days written notice during the pre-design phase and design phase and upon 90 days written notice during the construction-closeout phase.

KCBA will perform the services in phases of schematic design phase, design development phase, construction documents phase, bidding and procurement phase and construction phase. The school district may terminate the agreement upon seven days written notice.

Compensation will be paid for services performed for each phase.

The administration is authorized to sign and file applications, plans and other documents for obtaining governmental review and approval of the project.

NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said the project could be ready to be put out for bid in one year and possibly as early as December.

“The project will be publicly bid. We’ve been successful getting competitive bids,” said M. Arif Fazil, president of D’Huy Engineering Inc.

Voting for the agreements with D’Huy and KCBA were school directors Chuck Frantz, David Gogel, Ross Makary, Robert Mentzell and board Vice President John Becker.

Voting against the agreements were Dr. Michael Baird, Kim Bretzik, Doug Vaughn and board President James Chuss.

The majority of the 10 people who spoke, among the 44 people at the three-hour-plus school board meeting, were not in favor of moving ahead with the Seemsville project.

Among the concerns of those who spoke are warehouse-generated truck traffic in the vicinity of the Seemsville site of the proposed elementary school, the busing of children from Moore Township to a new school at the Seemsville site if Moore Elementary School is closed and the cost of the project.

Many of those who spoke backed the renovation of existing buildings, rather than building anew.

“The district is going to have to borrow money no matter what the project (renovation or building new),” Kovalchik said.

“The infrastructure needs is a huge asset as to why we got the conditional use approval from East Allen,” Fazil said. “Water and sewer, that infrastructure has been brought to Seemsville Road. We have the new traffic light (at Seemsville Road and Route 329). That’s a big advantage.”

The NASD Board of Education voted 6-3 at the Nov. 22, 2021, meeting to approve the development of an elementary school and educational center, which would include administration offices and technology department, on the 92.3-acre school district property at Route 329 and Seemsville Road.

The authorization to move ahead was based on the East Allen Township Board of Supervisors voting 4-0 to grant NASD conditional use approval Oct. 13, 2021, for the project.

The Nov. 22, 2021, board approval noted, “The board takes no action with respect to the ultimate use of or disposition of the Moore Elementary School, Franklin Elementary building, Washington technology building and district administration building.”

However, the closing of the Moore, Franklin, Washington, administration and maintenance buildings is recommended in the Northampton Area School District Elementary School Options and Facility Improvements report presented at the March 22, 2021, school board meeting.

The 44-page report was posted March 25, 2021, on the district website, nasdschools.org.

The Capital Maintenance Plan, prepared in 2011 by D’Huy Engineering and updated yearly by D’Huy, the NASD consulting engineering firm, was part of the basis for the Options and Facility Improvements report.

D’Huy Engineering Inc. was hired Feb. 2, 2021, by the school board to develop a master plan at a cost not to exceed $540,500 for the proposed $70 million elementary school and educational facility on the Seemsville tract.

“We can’t sell [the Seemsville tract] unless there are educational uses out there,” said NASD Solicitor Atty. C. Steven Miller at the board meeting Feb. 14. “When we bought [the Seemville tract], it was zoned for educational uses. Then East Allen changed it. Then it was rezoned for conditional use.”

The Seemsville tract has been considered a site for an educational facility since 1995, when the district purchased the land for $227,500 from the state.

The school board voted Dec. 3, 2018, to give Northampton Business Center, which is the 288-acre Jaindl-Watson warehouse project, an easement on 13.6 acres of the 92.32-acre Seemsville tract for a realigned Seemsville Road and Route 329 traffic light, stormwater improvements, extension of water and sewer lines and other improvements estimated to cost $4.5 million, which were paid for by JW Development.

The $70 million project would add $2.6 million debt service annually to the NASD budget. The impact would be 2.29 mills over four years, with the average taxpayer impact as $125 over four years, or $31.25 per year, based on the average residential assessment of $54,600, which is 50 percent of district taxpayers.

The NASD borrowing capacity was $96.5 million, as of June 30, 2021.

Before her Feb. 14 vote against approving the agreements with D’Huy and KCBA, Bretzik said, “I understand today’s vote is not about building, but I think it’s going to lead to that. It’s a very complicated decision. I drove past Route 329, and I was hoping to get some divine inspiration.

“Representing Bath and Chapman boroughs and Moore Township, we will be losing a community center (should Moore close). Redistricting would affect our students. My bigger concern is financing. All of our expenses are going up,” Bretzik added.

The NASD website COVID-19 data dashboard seven-day building totals, Feb. 8-14, as of Feb. 14, are: Northampton Area High School, 1; Northampton Area Middle School, 5; Borough Elementary Schools, 1; Moore Elementary School, 0; Lehigh Elementary School, 0; George Wolf Elementary School, 1; and district administration building, 0.

The school year-to-date NASD positive cases are 1,109.

The NASD Board of Education next meets 7 p.m. March 14 in the NAHS auditorium, 1619 Laubach Ave., Northampton.