North Penn bus center staying at high school

 And the final answer is: No move.

North Penn School District officials announced Monday night that a second potential site for moving the district’s transportation center has fallen through, and hundreds of buses will stay where they are now.

“After much consideration, it has been decided that the transportation property of interest in Montgomery Township would be cost-prohibitive, and it was decided to not pursue that property any longer,” said Director of Facilities and Operations Tom Schneider.

“So … transportation will remain on the high school site,” he said.

    A propane storage tank and fueling station for school buses was opened adjacent to North Penn High School and the district transportation center in 2019.
 North Penn School District   

Throughout 2023 into 2024, district staff and the school board made the case for a voter referendum that would have approved tax increases necessary to fund an expansion of the school to move ninth graders there. After voters rejected that referendum in January, the district has changed gears, presenting a new plan starting in March that would add a new wing to the current high school, minor additions to two other classroom areas, and fully renovate and upgrade the rest of the complex.

Talks on that new design have centered on whether the district would move its transportation center, which includes a maintenance garage, dispatch offices, propane fuel station and parking for roughly 100 district-owned buses, away from the high school.

The district investigated a site on Church Road in Upper Gwynedd this spring, ultimately announcing that site was not feasible due to costs, and voted in June to perform a traffic study on a second unnamed site in Montgomery Township, while presenting the new addition concept to Towamencin’s supervisors both with and without a transportation move.

    Site plan showing North Penn High School at right, a proposed new addition to the high school highlighted in blue, the school’s current transportation center at center, and a proposed new transportation building at top in orange, as presented to the school board on June 4, 2024.
 North Penn School District   

During the facilities and operations committee meeting on Monday night, Schneider gave an update, saying talks with the owner of the potential Montgomery Township site had not led to an agreement. The presentation to Towamencin’s supervisors in late June was “well received,” Schneider said, and that board gave little detailed feedback, and the township’s boards will see only one of the two plans going forward, starting with Towamencin’s planning commission on Aug. 5.

“The sketch plan that was submitted to the township, included both of the drawings, because that’s what the presentation showed, but at the planning commission meeting we’ll elaborate that the transportation will remain on the high school site,” Schneider said.

School still busy in summer

Weekly meetings are ongoing between district staff, their architect, and the project construction manager, with upcoming talks scheduled to address systems, site impacts, and technical aspects of the new high school design, according to the administrator.

The school itself is currently the site of ongoing work per several contracts already approved by the board, including an interior scan above the ceilings, and of utilities underground outside the building, and infiltration tests of the soil were done last week and results should be back soon, Schneider told the committee. Upcoming steps include meeting with the Montgomery County Conservation District to discuss the runoff and retention on the site, and whether the soil testing may mean larger underground retention areas are needed.

No changes have been made over the past month to the projected high school project timeline, with a goal of having designs finalized by the end of 2024, bid out in spring 2025, and some construction possible as soon as next summer.

“We will be preparing a more detailed schedule in the future, most likely in the next month or two: you’ll see a more robust and more detailed schedule,” he said.

Subcontracts voted ahead

Several other requests related to the high school projects were also discussed and voted ahead by the committee, all for potential approval by the full board in August so work can be done before students return to school. The first request seeks a drilling contractor to provide a drilling rig for five days to do inspection borings for the project’s geotechnical engineer, with an estimated cost of $9,700, Schneider said.

Two other items also voted ahead amended prior contracts for infiltration testing and for utility scanning, adding $11,000 in geotechnical analysis for soils to the former contract and adding $6,750 to the latter for examining and scanning the 1960s-era corrugated metal piping below the front parking lot and determine whether it needs to be relined or replaced, Schneider said.

One last motion voted ahead by the committee directed staff to seek proposals for an environmental design consultant, which Schneider said will design all asbestos abatement, write specifications for working around lead paint, and make plans for construction contractors to work around any other pollutants.

Electric supply a question

One public comment was also fielded on the high school project, from resident Jason Lanier, asking if the underground stormwater storage would carry extra costs, and if the utility contract could lead to any changes for the electric equipment or capacity connecting to the high school.

“We are not yet sure if we have to change the (electric) service to the building. We have to find out from PECO what their long-term goals are,” Schneider said.

North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Aug. 6 and 15 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.

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