Charlotte County Supervisors Examine “Fourth Option” at July Meeting

Charlotte County elementary students need a new school. The assessment, in itself, is an easy one to make after some inspection of the facilities that are currently in service around the county. However, deciding how to go about providing the county’s current estimated 950 elementary school students with a safe, efficient learning facility is not as easy as just building a new school, although that is one option that is being considered. Nor is it simply a matter of dollars and cents, but expense is a major factor in the decision- making process.

Up until Tuesday’s regular Charlotte County Board of Supervisor’s meeting there had been three options under consideration as possible solutions to the issue of how to provide an elementary school for the county. Today, there is a fourth.

The options, as they have been listed for consideration, are as follows: Option one is to close all three elementary schools, Bacon, Phenix and Eureka, and then build a brand new, 950-student elementary school. The estimated cost for this option is $24,251,306.00.

Option two would again entail closing Bacon and Phenix schools, but perform renovations and build additions onto Eureka. It goes on to add a new 550-student elementary school to handle the students that would come from Bacon and Phenix. This option would cost $26,361,686.00.

The final of the original options was to perform renovations and additions to all three schools at an estimated cost of $26,508,078.00.

A motion was made on June 9 during the regular Board meeting for the School Board to provide a cost estimate for restoring Eureka School “to its original design and to perform upgrades to the HVAC systems and floor plans to meet current standards and a cost estimate for expanding the Eureka Elementary School Campus to accommodate 550 additional students.” Designated  ‘Option four,’ the estimate, which was submitted to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday by Dewberry Architectural firm, contained a preliminary floor plan and site plan. It also contained information and estimates for extending Keysville water and sewer service to the school as an option as well as estimates for provisions for on-site water and sewer. Option four will add approximately 54,000 square feet to Eureka school, creating a footprint of 117,000 total square feet. It will also address storm water run off issues that would be exacerbated by the proposed expansion.

Each of the plans has pros and cons and the Board continues to examine the alternatives carefully. One consideration was the distance some students would have to ride to get to school if there were a central elementary school.

In other news, the Charlotte County Junior Little League Baseball team is now Virginia District 2 Champions. Christian Simon, Cheyanne Newcomb and Carter Trammell, along with their coach, Ms. Julie Simon, were all present at the board meeting with the new victory banners. They are currently preparing to travel to Pound, Virginia to continue tournament play. Yesterday, in a show of support, the Board passed a motion to give the youths $1,000 to help to offset travelling expenses.