An addition to Glencoe District 35’s Central School that officials say will alleviate disruptions to the varsity’s learning environment and increase safety is well on its solution to the corner of Greenwood Avenue.
Glencoe trustees unanimously approved District 35’s request for a special-use permit to permit a 3,246-square-foot addition to Central School’s existing constructing during their regular meeting on Thursday, Sept. 21.
The approved addition will house District 35’s administration office, which is currently situated inside Central School, based on a village memo from Taylor Baxter, Glencoe’s development services manager.
District 35 officials said of their plans submitted to the village that visitors currently access the district office via the varsity itself, which they noted is “disruptive to students and is potentially unsafe, because it requires members of the general public to make use of the varsity corridors.”
In line with plans submitted by officials, District 35’s staff “also has outgrown their current space inside Central School.”
“The answer to each the safety and the dearth of space is an expansion of the district office on the south end of the constructing,” the varsity district’s proposal reads. “This configuration will provide a separate and secure district office entrance that faces South Street.”
District officials also said that the positioning design of the addition will allow for entry into the district office through recent sidewalks and stairs. Project plans also say that existing parking spaces on the corner of South Street and Greenwood Avenue can be repurposed as parking spaces for the district office.
An ADA-compliant walking path that starts near the corner of Greenwood and South will take visitors to the doorway of the brand new office, which school officials said can be handicap accessible. The doorway to the present district office in Central School shouldn’t be ADA-accessible.
The brand new addition to the present two-story Central School constructing can be one story and can match the materials of the present structure, project plans say. District officials say of their request that the provisions included within the special-use permit would “allow for a symmetrical design” that “is more harmonious with the present structure.”
District 35’s proposal first appeared in front of Glencoe’s zoning commission earlier this month. Commissioners unanimously approved the proposal but added a condition stating that the landscaping must resemble or exceed the plans that were submitted.
The district noted in its project plans that it can provide “landscaping to match the character of the neighborhood between South Street and (the) proposed addition.”
Jason Edelheit, District 35’s director of finance and operation, said throughout the school board’s September meeting that the updated estimated cost for the project is $4.9 million. Edelheit also noted that district officials explored the opportunity of adding a basement area as a part of the project but that it proved “cost prohibitive” at an estimated additional price tag of $900,000.
District officials will bring an updated pre-construction and procurement schedule to the board of education on the October meeting, based on Edelheit.
The addition was approved on the village board’s consent agenda Sept. 21, so trustees didn’t discuss it further.
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