CPS to present new middle school design to the public

Dozens of acres of forest in South Columbia are set to be the future home of a new middle school.

A 2016 voter-approved bond issue will fund the Columbia Public School District’s purchase of the land from the University of Missouri, as well as the design process.

The $6.9 million sale of the land on Sinclair Road near Southampton Drive is still tentative but CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said they hope to have it finalized by the end of September.

Staff prioritized things like additional classroom space and access to the public, said Baumstark.

“We don’t necessarily want the whole building to be open but still allow our community to be able to come in and have community meetings in our buildings,” said Baumstark. “Those are things you have to think about at the beginning of the design. It’s very hard after the fact to try to retrofit the design of a building to meet a changing need in the public.”

The middle school design will have some “common features” that Baumstark said are present in several of the newer buildings they’ve built and renovated.

She said the district planned for flexibility on classroom size. Like the other middle schools in the district, the new one will be two stories and will most likely be able to hold between 600 and 800 students and staff at a time. They are also making sure they’ll have enough parking spaces.

“It all depends on your design capacity,” she said. “Those will be some discussions.”

The new school will also need to comply with the platting and design requirements of the new unified development code, said city planner Pat Zenner in an email.

The building code requires that a storm shelter be incorporated into the new design. Baumstark said this won’t be the first school to have that new requirement. They had to incorporate a shelter late in the design phase for Grant Elementary School renovations and it cost extra to do so.

“I do think our community believes in the priority of safety and our school district believes that safety is important,” said Baumstark. “I think we’re all on board with that and we understand that sometimes in order to be able to provide the safety components necessary, there does come an additional cost with that.”

The construction of the school will most likely be covered by a bond issue and Baumstark said they’re aiming for that to go this coming spring, but the Board of Education still has to weigh in on that.

“We’re not asking for an increase to make that possible,” she said.

Before even considering moving forward with the purchase, the district did extensive land evaluations including, but not limited to, location, size, water, floodplain, storm sewer, current zoning, annexation, cultural resources, climax forest, telephone, cable TV, gas and electric.

“There’s all kinds of things you have to think about when you go to purchase property,” said Baumstark. “This one is in a good site for us. It’s in the location we need it to be.”

The evaluation of the land will cost $3,200.

If all goes to plan, the middle school will open in 2020.