PITTSBORO — After an offer of land from the Chatham County government, the Chatham County Board of Education may take a different direction with a new administrative office building.
The board decided last week to spend a month thinking about and discussing locating the district’s new Central Services building on Renaissance Drive off of U.S. Hwy. 64 west of Pittsboro, the current location of the county’s detention center and Animal Services office. The current plan is to put the new building in front of the old one.
County Manager Dan LaMontagne, who presented the item along with Commissioners Chairman Mike Dasher, said the county was “real excited about this opportunity,” particularly to “anchor” the area with the Central Services building and the county’s new Emergency Operations Center.
“Our intention is to master plan this property,” LaMontagne said. “This is in the direct middle of the county. We’re very excited about this and we think this is a great opportunity to anchor this property.”
Schools officials said the relocation would likely add a couple months to the project’s construction timeline.
A 2014 facility conditions assessment stated that the current Central Services building, located at 369 West St. in Pittsboro, had passed its intended lifespan and was in need of costly repairs. In addition, the building is not large enough to house all the district’s administrative staff — some work out of Horton Middle School — and more space would be needed as the county grows in population. The most recent projected cost was more than $11 million, but the potential addition of a warehouse, as discussed last week, would increase that cost.
The board was generally positive about the plan, but multiple members said they wanted more time before making a firm decision.
“I think it’s difficult to make a decision on something that we really haven’t had a chance to do our due diligence on,” said board member Melissa Hlavac.
The current plan has already been set in motion, but no construction work has been done. Randy Drumheller, CCS’ director of maintenance and construction, said the district has already spent $122,000 on architectural work —”most” of which can be repurposed to the new site — and $20,000 on site surveys, money which won’t be able to be recouped.
The board agreed to discuss the item again in a month and delay anything on the current site that would be a cost.
Board member David Hamm expressed concern about what would happen to the old building, saying it would be a poor decision to move if the current offices would be left vacant.
“On one hand, I see y’all coming and laying out a golden platter for our facility,” Hamm said, referring to the county’s offer of land. “But at the same token, that site the building is on has been there and meant a lot to this community for a long time.”
LaMontagne, Dasher and district COO Chris Blice said there’s still plenty of time to find something to do with the building and the site.
“This allows all of us to get onto the same page, and keep that construction schedule going,” Dasher said. “When we’re all on the same page, we can start thinking about what the site could potentially be.”
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.