VENICE -- The Sarasota County School Board approved a nearly $5 million contract for the renovation of North Port's Toledo Blade Elementary School during its Tuesday meeting at the Robert L. Anderson Administration Center.
The contract with P.J. Hayes Inc., for preconstruction and bidding services only, includes the cost of renovation of the air-conditioning and heating systems, replacement of ceilings and lighting fixtures, painting and flooring replacement where needed, and the removal of most of the portable classrooms once construction is complete, allowing for re-establishment of play areas and fields. The item, on the School Board's consent agenda, passed without comment.
The guaranteed maximum price of the contract is $4,997,172.
Most of the school's students will be in portables for the 2009-10 school year while the estimated $7 million refurbishment of the campus takes place. Toledo Blade opened in 1992.
The board passed 4-0 -- with Board Member Kathy Kleinlein absent -- a resolution asking the Sarasota County Commission to enact a moratorium on educational impact fees for all residential building permits from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, and on residential certificates of occupancy issued on or before June 20, 2011.
"I would like to thank (board member) Frank Kovach for bringing this forward for the next year to help our economy move forward," said board member Shirley Brown.
The Sarasota County Commission will address the issue at a future meeting.
In other business, the School Board also approved, in a 3-1 vote with board member Carol Todd dissenting, a contract for the demolition of portions of the old Riverview High School campus in Sarasota.
"There's no doubt that the children of Riverview need a new high school, but I haven't supported the tearing down of the Paul Rudolph buildings," Todd said.
E-mail: annek@sun-herald.com
By ANNE KLOCKENKEMPER
Staff Writer