CLEARFIELD – The proposed demolition of the former Clearfield Area Middle School was listed among the 2016-17 capital fund projects presented by Business Manager Sam Maney at Monday night’s Clearfield school board committee meetings.
A company visited and conducted a walk-through of the building, he said. It provided an estimate in the amount of $850,000 for asbestos abatement, salvaging any materials and then taking down the building.
“It’s just a figure to go off of for now. I know that this is something the district will want to put out to bid,” he said. Maney also said it was a possibility that the bids would come in lower than the budgeted amount.
Board member Tim Morgan asked if the district was positive that there wasn’t anyone interested in the former middle school within the local community.
Board Vice President Mary Anne Jackson said they didn’t want to be responsible for it ending up in the hands of someone who would let the building sit there, deteriorate and become an eyesore.
Board member Randy Pataky asked if the fire company on Mill Road had any interest. Board member Larry Putt said he’d been contacted a couple of times but personally was unable to talk to anyone.
Rick Bunning, director of buildings and grounds, said he’d contacted the fire company and discussed their interest. “They only wanted a small area, or a chunk, where the driveway is across from their fire station to put in like 10 parking spaces,” he said.
Right now, he said the fire engine is so big that its members have to pull onto the district’s sidewalk in order to back into the station. He said they were interested in that area, plus a little more for parking for members.
Bunning added, “That’s all they want … They are not interested in the middle school itself, just a piece of property.” That piece of property, he said, was also located in the right-of-way into the building.
He said that the district has also been engaged in conversations with representatives from the Clearfield Penn Highlands Hospital. The hospital’s storm drains come down into the parking lot and feed into the district’s storm drains, he explained. With any type of demolition, Bunning said the hospital would have to relocate its storm lines.
According to previously published GANT News reports, the district consolidated its classrooms into the Clearfield Area Elementary School and the Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School in 2014-15.
In August of 2015, the district auctioned off the contents of the former middle school. During a meeting earlier this year, board members agreed the district isn’t likely to sell the building, and they should seek bids for its demolition.
Without a buyer at the present time, the proposed demolition of the former middle school will go out for bid in the near future, Maney told the board.
When bids are received they will be presented for the board’s review. “It’s going to come back for a decision before anything is ever done,” he said.