The 55-acre site for the new Priceville High School has been cleared and dirt is being moved to make way for a building pad and a three-lane street leading to the project site from Upper River Road.

These and other developments were reported to the Morgan County School board by Volkert Senior Construction Manager Kevin Gunnison and GBW Architect John Godwin at a board meeting Thursday night.

“As soon as we put up a sign at the construction site people from the community began stopping and taking pictures,” Gunnison said. Plus, Commissioner Jeff Clark and his equipment operators have been busy moving dirt and setting stakes for an upgraded access road.”

“I’ve built a lot of schools but I’ve never worked with a district commissioner that wants to help more,” Gunnison stated. “They’re providing drainage pipe, are going to take care of our spoil dirt and have taken steps to make the work site easily accessible and safe. I’ve really been impressed with them.”

“”We’ve been able to clear the site and stockpile the top soil for future use,” Clark said.

We’re getting ready to set the driveway pipe and have begun the process of widening and adding turn lanes to the existing access road. Our plan is to have the base layer of asphalt down before the start of the construction phase.”

Gunnison reported that bids would be let for site prep work on May 28. He added that the work will be completed in 90 days and the building pad should be ready for the construction phase by early fall.

Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. said a groundbreaking ceremony would be scheduled when

Temporary off-street parking space is provided.

“We’re didn’t want to jump the gun on doing that when the only place to park was on the side of the street,” he pointed out.

Godwin said he is pleased with the status of the new school’s design phase,

“We’ve met with the stakeholders and gotten their input on space wants and needs, working within the confines of a $119,000 sq. ft. floor plan,” said Godwin. “We’ve received state approval on the schematic design and we expect the flood plan and elevations to be complete soon.”