P'burg
school work set to start in May
State agency awards site work
contract to excavating company for $7.4 million.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005 • By LINDA LISANTI •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- By the end of this month,
bulldozers and dump trucks should replace the emptiness
that's long characterized the 126 acres on which a new high
school will sit.
John Harper, chairman of the school
board's building and grounds committee, reported Monday
night that the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. has
awarded a preliminary site work contract to Vollers
Excavating & Construction Inc., of North Branch,
N.J.
Its bid, which was just shy of $7.48
million, was the lowest of the three received.
Harper said the paperwork is being
completed and a purchase order should be issued by the
corporation within the next couple weeks, paving the way for
work to begin.
The preliminary site work includes the
construction of six athletic fields, parking lots and a
three-quarter-mile entrance drive from Belvidere Road. The
access road must be completed before the school can be
built.
The heavier construction on the site
should start in late October or early November.
Two weeks ago -- and two months after the
site work bids were received -- school board members had
expressed worry over the agency's delay in awarding the
contract.
Corporation officials said then that
further review of the bids was needed and a contract would
be awarded within a month.
"It appears we've cleared all the
hurdles," Harper told the board Monday.
Once completed, he said the roughly $100
million high school is going to be "the best building money
is going to buy."
The Schools Construction Corp. is
overseeing the project, which is being funded by the
state.
The high school in Lopatcong Township is
one of two new facilities being built by Phillipsburg, one
of New Jersey's 31 poorest districts. The other is an $18.7
million Early Childhood Center now under construction off
Center Street.
The 326,000-square-foot high school will
serve about 2,000 students and relieve overcrowding in the
current high school. The new facility is expected to open in
September 2008.
School board President Rod Pianelli said
it's easier to cope now that a solution is in
sight.
"We've rounded a corner. We don't see the
finish line yet, but we know we're in the race."
In other news, Pat Cawley, the school
district's director of elementary education, will retire in
January. He's been with the district since 1973.
During that time, he was a physical
education teacher, middle school assistant principal and
elementary school principal.
District officials said Cawley's
commitment to the district is to be commended.
"He's given his life to Phillipsburg,"
Superintendent Gordon Pethick said.
Reporter Linda Lisanti can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at llisanti@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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