The Coeur dAlene School District is gearing up to start a $23 million, four-year capital-improvement planan ambitious roster of construction projects that includes replacing Hayden Lake Elementary and modernizing Lakes Middle School.


Coeur dAlene voters passed a plant facilities levy last spring to pay for the projects.


The $23 million tab is the largest yet in a string of levies employed by the school district over the last decade to expand and modernize facilities in accordance with a long-range plan, district spokeswoman Janet Feiler says.


Weve had really high support from taxpayers to this (pay-as-you-go levy) approach vs. a bond issue, she says. The levy last spring passed with an 82 percent approval margin. Over the years, the district has been careful to keep the facilities portion of the levy under $2 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, she says.


Projects included in the current four-year plan are:


Construction of a 26,000-square-foot building and modernization of a 15,000-square-foot structure at Project CDA, the districts alternative high school, located at 725 Hazel. Altogether, those two projects are expected to cost $2.8 million.


The new structure would replace the schools oldest building, which was moved to that site from the old Farragut Naval Base after World War II, says Scott Fischer, of Coeur dAlene-based Architects West PA, the company that designed the project. The old Farragut building, will be demolished to make room for the new structure, he says.


The new building will be attached to the 15,000-square-foot structure there thats to be remodeled. The remodeling work will do away with the 25-year-old buildings open classroom floor plan by adding permanent wall partitions, Fischer says. In addition, the buildings floor coverings will be replaced, it will be repainted, and minor mechanical and electrical upgrades will be made.


As part of the project, five portable buildings on the school grounds, which now are used by Project CDA for classrooms and offices, will be removed to make room for the new structure and to improve parking and traffic circulation.


Fischer says the project still is awaiting final approval from the state of Idaho, but that he expects it to go out for construction bids in late May. Construction of the project could get under way this summer, and is scheduled to be finished by the fall of 2004, he says.


Hayden Lake Elementary, which was built in the 1930s, will be replaced in a $5.7 million project that could get under way in the fall and be completed by the start of the 2004-2005 school year.


The new school wont be built on the site of the current Hayden Lake Elementary, at 9650 N. Government Way. Instead, the city of Hayden will take over that property for use as a community center or another purpose, and in exchange will trade the Coeur dAlene School District 10 acres of vacant land at the intersection of Atlas Road and Honeysuckle Avenue for the new school, says Lila Truesdell, Haydens city clerk.


Because only part of the property the city owns at Atlas and Honeysuckle will be involved in the land swap, the property first must be subdivided, Fischer says. The process to do that has just begun, and its possible the land trade wont be finalized until the fall. If thats the case, work on the new school wouldnt begin until the spring of 2004, and it would open in 2005, he says.


The 52,800-square-foot school will be based on a prototypical design used by the district in the past to construct Hayden Meadows, Fernan, and Skyway elementary schools, Fischer says.


The district currently is soliciting from the public potential names for the replacement school.


In a project thats scheduled for design work late this year, the Coeur dAlene School district will build a 10,000-square-foot food-service facility on five acres adjacent to Woodland Middle School, at 2101 Ste. Michelle Drive.


The estimated $905,000 project will consolidate in one place the districts food-service operations, which currently are housed at both Project CDA and Lakes Middle School.


A designer for the project hasnt been named, but Fischer anticipates that design work on the project will begin in four or five months, and that construction will take place in 2004.


Lakes Middle School, at 930 N. 15th, will be modernized in a $7.7 million project thats tentatively expected to take place during the 2005-2006 school year.


Classrooms in the 75,400-square-foot school are to be reconfigured and enlarged so theyre comparable in size to those in the districts Woodland and Canfield middle schools, Fischer says. The project also will include new finishes and mechanical and electrical systems, and the addition of an elevator, he says.


The districts current food-service facility there, will be removed once the district completes construction of its new food-service building, and the school site will be reconfigured for improved traffic circulation and drop-off areas.


The final construction project to be funded through the plant facilities levy will be the addition of eight classrooms and a gymnasium at Ramsey Elementary, which is located at 1351 W. Kathleen. Following the completion of that $2.2 million project, the schools old gym will be used for a cafeteria and multi-purpose room. Modifications also will be made to the schools site to improve traffic circulation and parking.


Design work on the project is expected to begin in the fall of 2005, with construction taking place in 2006, he says.


Also as a result of the plant facilities levy, the Coeur dAlene School District plans to boost its technology infrastructure by spending at least a half-million dollars a year on new computers and instructional equipment, for a total of about $2.9 million, Feiler says.