Decision to scale back performing arts center at Davis High cuts deep
Yakima Herald-Republic
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The Yakima school board finally accepted a bid Friday for the Davis High School construction project after initial bids came in significantly over budget.
But as expected, much of the savings came at the expense of hoped-for improvements to performing arts space, which led about 100 students to protest the revised construction plan.
Students on Fifth Avenue waved signs that read "Arts Building Falling Apart," "Protest for the Arts," and "All We?re Saying is We Matter Too." Passing cars honked.
"What have we done to be so undeserving?" said parent Joy Clark, who helps support the band.
The winning bid is from Puyallup-based Absher Construction, which submitted a base cost of $65,947,000, the lowest of three bids.
With selected alternates ? elements of the construction project that the design team deemed nonessential, but still wanted to include ? the total accepted bid comes to $66,816,000.
School Board President Martha Rice said the initial plans for the performing arts center had to be scaled back to meet the cost of complying with code requirements on classroom sizes, fire safety and handicap-accessible facilities.
"Probably the performing arts center is one area that we have the most flexibility in addressing because of the other non-negotiable areas we have on our plate with this project," she said.
The newest bid includes a plan to spend about $1.8 million on improvements to the performing arts center, including state-of-the-art lighting, theater seating, an audio and video system and structural improvements to the building, according to the construction bid.
But protesting students discarded the improvements as minimal.
"The other schools, they?re like getting three auditoriums," said 16-year-old sophomore Angel Gonzalez. "And I think Davis needs it more."
Sophomore Anitramarina Reyna, 16, said future performing arts students deserve something more elaborate.
"We live our lives in band," she said. "I mean I?m here at 7:30 a.m. every day and last night I was here until 7:30 p.m. I spend 12 hours a day here. We?re fighting for those students coming in."
The total budget for the Davis project is $97 million; the difference between the two figures comes from sales tax, construction contingencies, attorney and construction manager fees and other overhead costs, district officials say.
In the first round, bids on the original plan came in $5 million to $7 million over the district?s projected $66 million to $68 million budget range.
None of the alternates included in the bid applied to the performing arts center, a source of frustration for students, faculty and community members who say the district gutted the performing arts renovation to make up for the budget shortfall when it sent out revised bids.
The most costly alternates adopted by the design team and accepted by the board included $283,000 for new off-site tennis courts on city of Yakima land, $219,000 to expand the parking lot at the Lions Pool and $188,000 to provide snow melt systems at certain locations.
Bids came in very close to one another this time around, and from the same three contractors that had bid on the original project. The high bidder was Lydig Construction from Spokane with a base cost of $66,697,000, only $639,000 above the Absher bid.
The Davis renovation is part of a massive 20-year, $114-million bond passed by Yakima voters in 2009 to pay for a new Eisenhower High School and a remodel of Davis and Stanton Academy.
The district is now more than a year into the Ike construction, and it finished building a new Stanton just in time for classes this fall.
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? Reporter Phil Ferolito contributed to this report.
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? Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7728 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com.
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