COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | AUGUST 12, 2021 | 9A
from A1
ACE
charter school must reside,
ACE fi nally settled on the
old Harrison building.
Besides being more than
big enough to house its
student population, the
property checks many of
the boxes on the school’s
list of needs.
“We would like a library.
Th at’s always been some-
thing that has been on our
wish list. And we current-
ly have no playground,”
Sahnow said. “We’re just
looking to condense our
multiple buildings into one
and of course provide the
extras for our students like
a computer room, an arts
and craft s room, a music
room – things that we just
don’t have the space for
right now.”
Plans submitted to
the Cottage Grove Plan-
ning Commission show
that ACE will occupy the
southern half of the old
Harrison school building,
which includes the gym,
several classrooms and the
library.
However, some reno-
vations are needed. Th e
conditional use permit will
cover two phases of vari-
ous improvements includ-
ing safety features.
“Because of limited
funding, we’re not able to
get in and do the whole
building at once,” said
Sahnow. “So that’s not ide-
al, but we’re going to make
it work.”
Under the two-phase
plan, improvements will be
made to address fi re safe-
ty issues by adding a fi re
alarm, meeting fi re exiting
requirements and install-
ing a building-wide fi re
DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The old Harrison Elementary School last saw students in its halls in 2018.
sprinkler system. Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) accessibility stan-
dards will also be brought
into compliance in bath-
rooms and damaged doors
and windows will need to
be fi xed.
Impact on the neighbor-
ing community is expect-
ed to be light as students
will only be on-site two or
three days out of the week.
“Th at’s a big thing that
community needs to
know — is that our school
is a smaller school,” said
Sahnow. “We also don’t
have buses, which is a huge
thing. I think the neigh-
borhood really needs to
understand we are work-
ing on making the drop
off smooth in the morning
— as well as pick up in the
aft ernoon — and not plan-
ning on-street parking.”
To avoid on-street park-
ing, the school has pro-
posed a 44-space parking
lot on the south side of the
building.
Sahnow stressed, too,
that ACE intends on part-
nering with the communi-
ty should it purchase the
property.
“We’ve already talked to
South Valley Athletics and
want to partner with them
for the use of the fi eld,” she
said. “So, I really am hop-
ing that we can share it
with the community.”
Harrison’s History
While fi nding a build-
ing that will consolidate
students and materials
all while serving ACE’s
needs is good news for the
school, Harrison’s own his-
tory with the community
adds a wrinkle to the sto-
ry. Th e question of what to
do with the old elementary
school property has been a
recurring point of some-
what turbulent public dis-
cussion over the past sev-
eral years.
In 2016, SLSD proposed
and passed bond measure
20-240, which asked the
community for nearly $36
million to realize plans to
replace, renovate and up-
grade school facilities. Th e
general obligation bond
included the relocation
of Harrison Elementary
School to its current site on
We empower and
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Quality Cleaning
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Taylor Avenue, renovation
of the aquatic center, sev-
eral deferred maintenance
projects and district-wide
network and technology
upgrades.
Th e measure also pro-
posed salvaging and reus-
ing the old Harrison prop-
erty rather than addressing
its many renovation needs,
which would have proven
to be prohibitively expen-
sive.
Th e district made the
case for this approach in a
2016 list of concerns about
the old building’s main-
tenance and renovation
needs.
For instance, the doc-
ument stated that “the
combination of aged clay
bricks and failing mortar
are of great concern in the
event of any seismic event.”
Based on a collapse po-
tential risk index created
by the Oregon Department
of Geology and Mineral
Industries, SLSD reported
that the building was in the
“high potential category.”
Other concerns listed in-
cluded high-cost estimates
to deal with roofi ng con-
ditions, ADA compliance,
water piping corrosion and
rust, HVAC maintenance
accessibility and heat insu-
lation issues.
In addition, the chal-
lenge of abating the asbes-
tos which was in proximity
to a number of these issues
made the costs “astronom-
ical.”
Th e list of concerns did
not, however, specifi cal-
ly list asbestos as a health
concern. Th e growing
population of the school,
rather, necessitated many
of these costly upgrades
as approximately 450 stu-
dents attended the school
before the relocation.
To avoid the high cost
of renovation and asbestos
abatement, the 2016 bond
proposed using $513,455
to salvage Harrison’s gym
and fi eld space for com-
munity recreational use.
Th e bond passed that
year with 56 percent of
voters casting in favor.
However, in the fall of
2018, the SLSD board be-
gan looking at the costs
associated with the 6.84-
acre property more deep-
ly. As bond projects were
implemented and price
estimates shift ed, the dis-
trict gradually realized it
needed to adjust its plans
regarding the fate of the
property. Th ree options
were developed.
Th e fi rst option included
a full renovation package:
a parking area, athletic
fi eld, asbestos abatement,
some demolition and the
rebuilding of the gym.
Th ough initial costs were
estimated by the school
district to be around $900
thousand for the whole
endeavor, the discovery of
additional structural issues
shot the cost of maintain-
ing the gym alone up to
around $1 million. Includ-
ing the other items on the
price list, fi nal estimates
on the fi rst option came
to more than $2 million
— more than double what
was initially expected.
A second option, which
excluded salvaging the
gym, dropped those costs
to between $800 and $900
thousand — still not an en-
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