The proposed Northampton Area School District Route 329 elementary school and education center could be put out for bid in spring 2023.

“The project is expected to be publicly bid in spring 2023 with, at minimum, four prime contractors,” said M. Arif Fazil, president of D’Huy Engineering Inc., the NASD consulting engineering firm. “This project will attract a lot of bidders.”

Fazil was one of several officials to speak at the Act 34 public hearing about the project, held Dec. 8 in the Northampton Area Middle School cafeteria. An estimated 15 district residents attended, some of whom asked questions, which officials answered.

NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik reviewed the district comprehensive plan, which led to renovations and additions to Col. John Siegfried Elementary School and Northampton Area High School, construction of NAMS and Lehigh Elementary School and plans for the Route 329 elementary school and education center.

NASD student enrollment is expected to increase.

“We’re looking at approximately 1,800 more students coming into the school district,” Kovalchik said. “The next five to 10 years, you’re going to see some of that growth.”

NASD is considering closing the administration building, Franklin Elementary School, the Washington building technology center and Moore Elementary School. The Moore school may become a community center.

The NASD Board of Education, at its Oct. 10 meeting, adopted a maximum building cost of $44,707,536 and maximum project cost of $73,406,193 - including $3,043,193 in financing.

“Moving into the end of 2022, the construction costs have leveled off,” Fazil said. “However, we built in inflation costs. The total project is the same as what we have been talking about.”

School construction on the East Allen Township project is to start in summer 2023, with completion by June 2025.

“One of the blessings is the cost factors of the site. A lot of the site work is already in place,” Fazil said. “Essentially, the site work is primarily coming off the relocated Seemsville Road. Water, sewer and power is readily available.”

An estimated $11 million in infrastructure improvements have been made, including a redesigned Route 329 and Seemsville Road intersection with a traffic light, utilities to the district property and stormwater management.

The Act 34 hearing included artist renderings of the school and education center, site plans and project information shown on several video monitors in the NAMS cafeteria.

The elementary school, education center, bus loop, parent vehicle loop, multiuse area and sports field are situated at the northwest area of the approximate 90-acre site. A conservation zone is at the site’s northeast area. An already-constructed retention pond is to the west of the relocated Seemsville Road. A traffic light was installed at Route 329 and Seemsville Road.

“We’re making sure we’re keeping away from the conservation area, so we don’t disturb it,” said Jay Clough, KCBA Architects founding partner.

KCBA designed the Route 329 school project.

“We’re keeping the area along Route 329 as a meadow,” Clough said. “We have buses and drop-off areas. We’re trying to minimize the impervious surfaces. No students ever have to cross traffic to enter the building.”

The facility has three security gates. The elementary school student entrance is on the building’s north side. The secure entrance for visitors is on the west side. The site plan depicts the school as 740 feet from electric power lines.

The elementary school includes classrooms, administration offices, a gym, music instruction room, cafeteria, STEM instruction room, literacy center, art classroom and multiuse room.

According to Clough, kindergarten through second grade will be on the midlevel. There will be a courtyard in the center, with third through fifth grades on the upper levels.

“The building is never more than two stories because we’re climbing up the hill,” Clough said.

The education center for the NASD administration and instructional technology departments will be to the north and west of the elementary school and will have its own secure entrance.

“The education center is a separate building,” Clough said.

Jamie Doyle, of PFM Financial Advisers LLC, discussed financing alternatives for the school project.

“We determined a bond issue is the best way to go,” Doyle said. “No reimbursement is anticipated from the state.”

Doyle estimated the annual indirect costs associated with the project will be reduced by $990,000.

The impact from the bond issue of 2.72 mills, less the indirect cost savings of 0.83 mills, would equal a total millage impact of 1.89 mills, according to Doyle.

C. Steven Miller, NASD solicitor, moderated the Dec. 8 hearing. A court stenographer was present to take notes.

At the Feb. 14 meeting, the school board approved agreements totaling $4.8 million between the district and D’Huy Engineering Inc. for professional engineering services and between the school district and Kelly Clough Bucher and Associates Inc. (KCBA Architects) for professional architect services for the project.

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

At the Feb. 2, 2021, meeting, the school board voted to hire D’Huy Engineering Inc. to develop a master plan, at a cost not to exceed $540,500 for the elementary school and educational facility.

At the Dec. 3, 2018, meeting, the school board voted 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, Route 329 and Seemsville Road traffic light, stormwater improvements, extension of water and sewer lines and other improvements, paid for by JW Development.

The 37-page Act 34 report presented Dec. 8 and the 54-page Act 34 hearing booklet detailing the project can be accessed from the NASD website, nasdschools.org.