The Williamsburg-James City County school board will consider this weekend whether to move existing funds around to pay for the decommissioning of an underground rain catching tank at Matoaka Elementary and its replacement — a more than $680,000 project.
The discovery of sinkage near the Matoaka Elementary playground in October led to the discovery an underground rain tank had collapsed. The school board gave the go ahead to bypass the system in November to try to reopen the playground.
Now, AES Engineering, a Williamsburg-based company hired to look into a permanent fix for the tank, is suggesting filling in the old tank with grout and putting in two new smaller systems on either side of the school building. The company estimated the project would cost about $600,000 – a figure that includes an extra 20 percent to cover any unforeseen costs with the project.
To expedite the reopening of the playground, the school board in November put $25,000 forward to bypass the failed tank. To pay for the new tanks, the school board would need to utilize unused funds: $200,000 left over from when Hornsby Middle School was built, $350,000 left over from when J. Blaine Blayton Elementary was built and $107,000 allotted to build a traffic light on Jolly Pond Road for Blayton Elementary that did not gain approval from VDOT.
The $657,000 of unused funds would be added to the $25,000: an end-of-the-day cost of $682,000. While AES estimated filling in the old tank and installing two new ones would cost $600,000, $82,000 has already been spent for an emergency repair directly following the tank collapse and for the engineering study that followed to find a permanent solution.
The school board approved a sum of $25,000 to bypass the old system, which would allow the reopening of the school playground that has been closed since the problem was discovered. The playground was expected to reopen in January but, because of recent inclement weather, that date has been pushed to Feb. 3.
The school board will visit the issue at their Saturday retreat, but the public hearing on this year’s budget was rescheduled to 7 p.m. on Feb. 5 at the James Blair building in room 400. The school board is faced with the decision of the $600,000 repair or one that would cost $550,000 but not comply with county land permits.