North Penn School District officials, inset, show Towamencin’s supervisors an outline of North Penn High School, with potential new additions outlined in red, and a possible relocation of the district’s transportation center at left, during the June 26, 2024 township supervisors meeting.
Possible bus site move could be decided ‘before the end of summer’
Towamencin officials have gotten a look at the latest plans for renovations to North Penn High School.
“We’re here, not looking for any action, just — in the spirit of transparency — trying to keep you in the loop, on our plans, and the direction we’re headed,” said Superintendent Todd Bauer.
In late February, the district last presented to the township on the high school renovation, which has been discussed in detail by administrators and school board members as they 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.
Since voters rejected the 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.
Bauer, architect David Schrader, and civil engineer Barry Stingel summarized that plan for Towamencin’s officials on Wednesday night, focusing on a key aspect of the plans that’s drawn lengthy discussion since the referendum: whether the district will 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.
North Penn Superintendent Todd Bauer, center, civil engineer Barry Stingel, left, and architect David Schrader discuss potential renovations of North Penn High School during the June 26, 2024 Towamencin supervisors meeting.“That is still our intention. We still want to move it off the property. We have pursued 40 different properties, and we were very close on one property in Upper Gwynedd,” Bauer said.
“Unfortunately, after we had an agreement in principle, and we got some estimates on the cost of renovating the building on that property, it just wasn’t within our budget, so we had to walk away,” he said.
District staff have said they’re investigating one other possible property in Montgomery Township, and voted earlier this week to advance a traffic study to look at the roads and driving patterns surrounding that site, without disclosing its location publicly. While those talks are in the works, Bauer told the supervisors, the school board has voted to prepare detailed plans for renovations both with and without the transportation center there.
“We did feel it prudent and responsible to share that it’s possible that transportation will need to stay on the property. So we are moving forward with both options, because we want to continue to move forward with the project itself,” he said.
Aerial view
Stingel then showed an aerial photo of the roughly 106-acre high school campus, with the school surrounded by parking lots, ballfields, Crawford Stadium, the former WNPV Radio site near Snyder Road acquired in 2020, and the adjacent Valley Forge Road and Sumneytown Pike.
In both scenarios, no changes are proposed to the access points to Snyder or Valley Forge Road, and the main parking lots near the front of the school would remain largely unchanged, while new parking could be added between the current transportation building and Crawford, and the current propane fuel tank and a salt storage barn near that building could be moved north on the site and gated off from public access.
“In addition to this reconfigured transportation facility, we are proposing to add some additional parking. While we would not reach compliance with the parking requirements for the high school, this would lessen the existing nonconformity,” Stingel said.
More parking
Depending on which plan proceeds, roughly 215 new parking spaces would be added between the transportation center and Crawford if the transportation building remains, and the number would grow to roughly 500 to 540 new spaces there if the transportation building is moved offsite, with ADA accessibility for those using the new entry to the school that would be created in the new addition.
Two new athletic fields would be added on the former WNPV site, likely natural grass, a band field would likely be reconfigured to add two new tennis courts, and new sidewalks or asphalt trails would likely be added to upgrade what are currently dirt paths running between the school, fields, and parking lots, with new sidewalks also possible along Sumneytown Pike, Stingel said.
Site plan for proposed renovations to North Penn High School, showing new additions to the school’s J-pod, between A-pod and H-pod, and behind the school auditorium outlined in red, as presented on June 4 2024.Schrader then showed an overhead angle highlighting the current school buildings: “Those are going to receive top-down, bottom-up renovations. All of that will feel like a new school,” planned additions to the current K-pod and J-pod, and the two-story new classroom wing with a new rear entrance.
“It encloses the courtyard that you folks are used to today. That courtyard will be redesigned, and will incorporate a series of pathways, so that folks can move in all directions through the courtyard, to get from one side of the building to another, without having to traverse the entire perimeter of the site,” Schrader said.
Connections
The new addition also connects A-pod and H-pod so students can go from one to the other without going outside or around the rest of the school, and adds classroom space that can be used while other pods are renovated afterward: “that’s going to allow us to start to hop, skip and jump around the building with renovations, attempting to affect the students, staff and community as little as possible,” Schrader said.
Current timelines call for the design to be finalized and ready to bid by early summer 2025, construction to start that summer, and work to continue in several phases running through the end of calendar year 2030. Early bid packages are also being developed, with the K-pod addition possibly starting as soon as next summer if the land development approval process can be streamlined, while a bid package for long-lead-time equipment such as HVAC equipment and electric switch gear could also be ready by early 2025.
North Penn School District officials, inset, show Towamencin’s supervisors an outline of North Penn High School, the school’s various “pods” lettered, potential new additions outlined in red, and a possible renovation timeline at right, during the June 26, 2024 township supervisors meeting.The architect then showed a diagram of the current school with each lettered pod, next to a timeline of which could be renovated when.
“This is preliminary, but this is a way to try to get this site to work, so folks are not living in the construction areas while the rest of the building is being renovated,” Schrader said. “You’ll see some additions first, that students will start to move into, and once those portions are complete, and we can start using those, you’ll see us start to move around the building.”
Supervisor Kristin Warner asked if the latest plans include any widening of the driveways leading to and from the school and Valley Forge and Snyder Roads, to help with traffic flow, and Bauer said that had not been discussed since voters vetoed moving ninth grade there.
Supervisor Joyce Snyder asked for specifics on the projected timelines, and Schrader said more would be known once the bid packages are finalized, posted and awarded, likely by spring 2025 for construction starting that summer. Supervisor Kofi Osei then asked how soon the district would decide about moving the transportation facilities offsite, and Bauer said that answer could come within weeks.
Another question from Osei drew recollections of his days as a student there: would the revamp include bike parking or racks for those who ride with two wheels, not four?
“When I slept in, I rode my bike to school, and got there before the bus. I had time to eat breakfast at home, and then sit down with my friends at school. But I hid my bike in the woods, I didn’t have a bike lock, and I’ve seen students chain their bikes on the fence next to the soccer fields,” Osei said.
“It seems like most of Towamencin, and good chunks of Lansdale and Upper Gwynedd, could get to school before the bus. It seems like a good opportunity, especially as lots of these townships and boroughs are working on bike accessibility,” he said.
“We would absolutely put bike racks in, bike parking, to encourage students to utilize that. All part of your plan, and ours,” Bauer replied.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on July 10 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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