Construction at Sunset Hill Elementary School delayed

Construction that was scheduled to begin this month at Sunset Hill Elementary School, 901 Schwarz Road, is being delayed, Lawrence school district officials said Thursday.

Sunset Hill is one of the 14 elementary schools slated for remodeling and expansion as part of the district’s recent $92.5 million bond issue. Originally estimated at about $9.4 million, it is one of the larger projects in the plan and includes the addition of several new classrooms, new music and art rooms, expansion of the cafeteria and kitchen and several other enhancements.

District spokeswoman Julie Boyle said in an email that the delay is due to the need to complete a traffic impact study required by the city, as well as the need to redesign parts of the project to stay within budget.

“With construction projects, there are lots of moving parts,” Boyle said. “At Sunset Hill, we are waiting on a traffic study, required by the city due to the expected increase in traffic. As you know, we are adding capacity there and will need to improve management of the flow of traffic.”

“We are also doing re-design work on the project, as we have and will do with all of the projects to ensure that they stay within budget,” she said. “While the extent of the delay is unknown at this time, we are not planning to move everyone or everything out of Sunset Hill like we are at Cordley and Langston Hughes, so the project’s time constraints are not quite as sensitive.”

A preliminary timeline for the construction projects indicated that Sunset Hill was scheduled to be completed by August 2015.

On the bright side, though, the delay means that at least part of the playground at Sunset Hill will remain open during the summer. But at least part of the blacktop portion of the playground will be closed because portable classrooms will be placed there.

One of the goals of the bond-funded projects is to eliminate the need for portable classrooms, but officials say some will be needed through the construction process.