The Sequim School Board of Directors agreed to new contracts last week related to planning for the district’s $146 million, 20-year construction bond, and approximate $5 million Career Technical Education (CTE) building.

The district also received unanimous approval from the state’s Project Review Committee (PRC) in two separate interviews on Dec. 4 to use the Progressive Design-Build Project delivery method to build a new Helen Haller Elementary, and to go forward with selecting a general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) for Sequim High School and the CTE building.

Superintendent Regan Nickels said in an interview the Progressive Design-Build Project alternative delivery building method will allow for better collaboration early on between architects and the contracting firm so there will be less change orders through the project and be “hopefully more financially effective for the budgets we have.”

As part of the voter-approved bond in February, Helen Haller Elementary at 350 W. Fir St. will be rebuilt likely behind the existing building as an approximate 62,000-square-feet new structure with the existing school being demolished for a parking lot and bus loop after construction is complete, according to district documents.

The current school will remain occupied while the new school is built, staff have previously said.

District documents estimate the project to cost about $63.6 million with $58.4 million from bond proceeds and $5.2 million in matching funds from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP).

Staff report in planning documents that the Design-Build phase will help “confirm alignment of scope and budget and test two-story and one-story models and different teaching approaches.”

Phase one design will start in July 2026 with construction going through May 2029, according to a delivery schedule map.

District staff previously said a second package including a new transportation center and stadium improvements could be proposed to the PRC, too. However, Nickels said in an interview the only reason they’d go back is if one of the projects required an alternative delivery building method.

SHS/CTE buildings

During a special meeting on Dec. 3, school board directors voted 4-0, with Michael Rocha excused, to an approximate $5.2 million contract with Mahlum, an architecture firm from Seattle, for design services for Sequim High School and the CTE (Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence) building.

The district previously worked with the firm on designing two buildings at Greywolf Elementary.

According to Mahlum’s “Defined Scope of Services and Fee Proposal” document, their staff state that the preliminary projects’ budget at $57.3 million with $52.4 million coming from bond proceeds and $4.9 million from a community improvement grant.

The scope of the project includes replacing Sequim High School’s A, B, C, D, and E buildings with instructional wings that connect all buildings to create a secure campus; and constructing the approximate 10,000-square-feet Ramponi CTE building.

Nickels said SHS and the CTE buildings were brought to the PRC for approval on Dec. 4 because they have to be very thoughtful about how they’re managing how the projects are paid for with different funds.

The RFP for a general contractor/contract manager tentatively goes out this week with a board decision some time in mid-February scheduled for the projects. Staff report that the project will require significant pre-planning due to the school remaining in operation during construction with limited storage/access areas for materials and equipment.

According to preliminary planning documents, the CTE Building will be substantially complete by February 2028, and the high school substantially complete by July 2029.

Mike Santos, the district’s facilities director, previously said that a different architectural and design team could be chosen for different projects because they will be completed separately.

Contracts approved

At their regular board meeting on Dec. 1, school board directors unanimously approved two contracts, the first for approximately $123,000 with Certerra Northwest to provide geotechnical services analysis for SHS, Helen Haller Elementary, the CTE site adjacent to the high school, the Central Kitchen, the district’s Transportation Building, and Greywolf Elementary School.

According to the agency’s proposal, they’ll characterize geotechnical and geologic conditions at the various project sites to provide geotechnical conclusions and recommendations for the design and construction of the project.

The second contract was approved for just over $157,000 with PACE Engineers to do boundary and topographic surveys of the district’s properties involved in the bond projects.

Geotechnical work will begin this week and the land survey the week of Dec. 15, Santos said.

In early September, the school board approved a contract for up to $5.3 million through Dec. 31, 2031 with The Wenaha Group to serve as the construction management firm for the bond projects and the CTE building.

Wenaha’s Chris Marfori will serve as the senior planning manager overseeing the entire bond program with responsibility for the overall budget, master scheduling and issue resolution, according to district documents. Wenaha staff previously oversaw the voter-approved 2021 Capital Projects Levy projects.

Along with construction of a new elementary school, renovated high school, and CTE building, remaining bond proceeds will be used to:

• Upgrade the multi-sport athletic field.

• Replace the transportation center.

• Add a bus loop between Fir Street and Sequim Middle School.

• Add a Greywolf Elementary School cafeteria.

• Build a new Greywolf bus loop and parking lot.

• Improve Greywolf’s HVAC system.

• Upgrade safety and security systems at the middle school, Greywolf, and Olympic Peninsula Academy.

Note: Reporter Matthew Nash has family employed/enrolled in Sequim School District.

Image courtesy Sequim School District/ With the selection of design firm Mahlum, Sequim School District’s preliminary planning documents have its new Career and Technical Education building being substantially complete by February 2028, and Sequim high school substantially complete by July 2029.