As we noted in our last column, Alameda’s new Wood Middle School campus is open and gorgeous! While all eyes have been on Wood, though, our other facility projects have also been moving full-steam-ahead.

First up: Alameda High School’s new swim center downtown is expected to open in October for student use and for community use several months later. This will be a beautiful new facility, complete with a 12-lane-by-30-meter competition pool for swimming and water polo, a four-lane practice pool, a new pool deck with lighting and other aquatic amenities. The neighboring tennis courts are expected to open in October or November.

At Encinal Junior and Senior High School on Alameda’s West End, contractors have broken ground on a new, full-size gymnasium with multisport court striping and bleachers, a weight room and a new lobby with restrooms. This new auxiliary gym will be on the blacktop adjacent to the existing gymnasium and tennis courts and is expected to open in early 2028.

Krusi Park visitors have no doubt noticed that demolition has begun on the main classroom building at Otis Elementary. We know this is heart-tugging for the many Alamedans who went to school there over the years, but the 70-year-old building has come to the end of its service life, and infrastructure at the site, along with its classrooms and administrative area all need updating. Like Wood, the new campus will be modern, light-filled and full of state-of-the-art amenities for today’s students. The project should be ready for students in August 2028.

As many readers know, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) officials have also been considering construction of a new Alameda High athletic field for some time. This is because heavy annual use on a grass field results in ruts and holes and Thompson Field is not big enough to fit a regulation track.

The proposed project would include a multisport synthetic turf athletic field, a competition track, bleachers with an announcer’s box and modern lighting and sound systems. The AUSD looked at several sites, including Alameda Point and the Alameda High campus, as well as installing an upgraded football field at Thompson Field and a track at the Lum Elementary site or having Alameda High students use the tracks at Encinal High or the College of Alameda.

Those options were too expensive, though, and/or too far away from Alameda High and where its students live. As such, the proposed site is at the former Lum Elementary campus, which can fit a regulation track and regulation field; is close to students’ homes and school; and meets the bond budget.

Right now, the project is undergoing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) analysis, which considers nearly two dozen potential environmental impacts from a proposed project, including air quality, noise, light, cultural resources, geology and soils, greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, noise and transportation.

The AUSD held a public meeting in March about the project and a community workshop in May. In July, the district’s CEQA consultant, Brelje & Race Consulting Engineers, held the first formal CEQA meeting for neighbors to scope the environmental review. All of the public comments from that meeting will be included in the draft report, which is expected later this fall. A public comment period will follow the issuance of that draft.

So far, the primary concerns expressed by neighbors center on the potential for noise, lights and traffic congestion. These issues will be investigated by experts and an analysis of their potential severity, as well as strategies to reduce them, will be included in the final report. We’re grateful for the community’s support of AUSD’s facility programs and excited about seeing so many of the projects near completion!

Reach Susan Davis, the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs, at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.