BOE Hears Update On Construction Projects

VESTAVIA HILLS, Al - Construction projects abound for the Vestavia Hills school system, with a new elementary school being built, several renovations, demolitions and other projects scattered about the school system. This week, the Vestavia Hills Board of Education heard updates on two of those projects.

According to a report by the Vestavia Voice, Brennan Bell of Hoar Program Management said at the Berry campus, demolition and site work at the location is ongoing and should be completed by the end of this month. He said next will come the bidding out of the phases of the interior renovations, exterior renovations and paving, and a new band and choir building.

Bell told the board that the Gresham Elementary School project had stalled as the district waited for confirmation from federal court that the sale of the property from Jefferson County would be approved.

Vestavia Hills interim superintendent Charles Mason issued a statement in March updating the status of proposed elementary school rezoning as part of the system's massive construction plan and purchase of Gresham Elementary School from Jefferson County. In December, the Vestavia Hills Board of Education adopted its comprehensive school restructuring plan that calls for the district to transition to three K-5 schools west of U.S. 280 in the fall of 2019.

The sale was approved April 10, and now the board will work on getting the property annexed into the city and rezoned. Bell said that the primary project at Gresham will be a classroom addition similar to that at Liberty Park Middle School. He said that the buildout will also be 11 to 12 months, and won’t interfere with Jefferson County’s operation of the school in the meantime.

Photo by Michael Seale/Patch