Bethel undergoes building blitz.

Byline: ANNE WILLIAMS The Register-Guard

It's been a little more than two years since Bethel-area voters agreed to pay higher property taxes to build two new schools and spruce up several old ones.

Now they're finally going to see some bang for the buck - lots of it, in fact.

A veritable building blitz is under way in Bethel this summer, with construction and repair projects humming along at almost every school in the district, which covers Eugene's far-western flank.

"It's amazing," district spokesman Craig Hawkins said. "There's construction going on everywhere you look."

The fever pitch is unprecedented in Bethel, Assistant Superintendent Tim Keeley said - an obvious corollary to the district's rapid growth. The student boom is unique in Lane County, where most other districts - including Eugene and Springfield - have seen enrollment hold steady or fall in recent years.

Bethel's enrollment in the 2001-02 school year was 5,311; for the fall, officials are expecting at least 5,424 students. As long as residential construction keeps in line with expectations, that number will keep going up for the next several years.

"We're about the only place left where there's any affordable housing" for young families, Keeley said.

The flagship summer project is Prairie Mountain School, an $18.2 million blended elementary and middle school that's rising rapidly from flat pasture land at the northwest corner of the intersection of Royal Avenue and Terry Street.

Construction didn't even start until December, and workers are racing against the clock to have the elementary wing ready for the first day of school. The middle school portion, which won't open until fall 2004, isn't yet under construction.

Ray Bradshaw, a former assistant superintendent who retired in 1988, is on contract with the district to oversee the summer construction projects, including Prairie Mountain and a $1.6 million alternative high school being built just north of it on the same parcel of land. Kalapuya High School is scheduled to open in mid-September.

The architect for both schools is gLAs Architectural Group of Eugene.

There's still a lot of work to be done, but Prairie Mountain - named for a long, low peak visible to the west - already looks and feels like an airy, modern school. The roofing, windows and exterior and interior walls are in place, as is some of the piping. Some of the 21 elementary classrooms - clustered around spacious common areas in three separate wings - already have shelves and tables in place.

The cafeteria, gymnasium, offices and media center won't be finished until after winter break, but that won't get in the way of a September opening, Bradshaw said. Principal Sara Saxton-Ticer will use the computer lab as a temporary office, and meals will be trucked in daily from another school's kitchen.

The biggest worry is the floor, Bradshaw said. The four-inch-thick concrete was poured in the middle of winter and was repeatedly covered with standing water - once even snow. Before workers can lay vinyl tile and carpeting, it has to be completely dry, a process that can take months at the best of times. The floor-covering manufacturers won't guarantee their product unless the concrete meets stringent moisture specifications, Bradshaw explained.

"The worst-case scenario is we start school on concrete," he said.

Despite last week's 90-plus degree heat, the site was abuzz with activity, with at least 60 workers - masons, electricians, carpenters, mechanical experts, grounds people - milling about.

Lee Construction Co. of Eugene is the lead contractor on the project, but there are also subcontractors on the site at various times.

"There's just a mess of subs from every conceivable trade," Bradshaw said.

Although there has been a flurry of construction in the Eugene-Springfield area (Autzen Stadium and the new Eugene Public Library are just a couple of the high-profile projects), there's been no shortage of workers, said Bill Jensen, Lee's project superintendent.

"There seem to be enough workers for everyone," he said, noting that there's been a downturn in residential construction over the same period. "We haven't had to run shorthanded or anything."

Besides Prairie Mountain and Kalapuya, construction is under way at Irving Elementary, where six new classrooms and a new gym will be ready by late fall; Fairfield Elementary, which will have a new music room, kindergarten rooms and computer lab by the first day of school; and Shasta and Cascade middle schools, which will both see new fine arts wings, with space for band and choir, in October.

There's also remodeling and/or repair work going on at those schools as well as at Willamette High School and Clear Lake, Danebo and Malabon elementaries.

The only school where things are quiet is Meadow View School, a kindergarten- through-grade 8 school that opened in 1998.

The new construction projects all were part of a $27.5 million bond measure approved in May 2000.

CAPTION(S):

Estanislao Fernandez (CQ) works on drywall in the interior of the new Prairie Mountain School in the Bethel District, where a flurry on construction projects will keep contractors busy this summer. (BRIAN DAVIES/The Register-Guard) Thursday, July 11, 2002 BRIAN DAVIES / The Register-Guard Estanislao Fernandez works on drywall at the new Prairie Mountain School at Royal Avenue and Terry Street in the Bethel area. "It's amazing. There's construction going on everywhere you look." - CRAIG HAWKINS, Bethel School District spokesman