EASTON, Pa. – The Easton Area School District Board of Directors received an update on the proposed new high school building Tuesday night at the administration building.
The proposal calls for construction within the existing Easton Area High School campus located near the 25th Street and William Penn Highway intersection. The school has been at this location since the 1960s.
This first phase involves an athletic complex with the construction of a turf varsity baseball field, turf varsity softball field, grass junior varsity baseball field, tennis courts, a fieldhouse and associated infrastructure on the site’s western lot. This first phase is scheduled to begin this spring, according to EASD officials.
Douglas White, with Colliers Engineering and Design, informed the board the project’s first phase “has been evolving over the last several months. This includes curbing and sidewalk along Greenwood Avenue, which was requested by Palmer Township.
The second phase involves the current high school building’s demolition, as well as construction of the new 241,000-square-foot high school, along with parking lots, a band field, a bonfire location and public improvements.
Proposed site access is via the existing access points on Hartley Avenue, South 25th Street and William Penn Highway. The district is focused on separating bus traffic from parent, student and staff motorists. This phase includes widening along William Penn along with curbing and sidewalk, and sidewalk additions along 25th Street.
White provided an update on plan approvals. He said a phase one plan resubmission will be made Wednesday to Palmer Township, and is expected to be on the planning commission’s Feb. 10 agenda. After planning commission approval, the plan would go before the township’s board of supervisors. He also updated board members on their efforts to obtain required permits.
Bill Deegan, a senior designer with Alloy5 Architecture, then discussed the high school building itself and said the facility “would have a strong connection to the students.” He added the building would be “unique in the sense that it has two dual corridors running down classes and spaces in the middle.” Deegan said a typical classroom would seat about 30 people and feature more than adequate natural light.
“This is really a future learning environment,” he said.
The building will feature concrete, steel and silk, which pay homage to the regional industry and materials that “flowed through Easton as a transportation hub.”
Phase one construction is scheduled to commence in June and run through May 2027.
The entire project is scheduled for completion in July 2031.
The total project budget is $298 million. Ken Phillips, a managing director with Raymond James, discussed the district’s existing debt and refinancing of 2018A notes and a portion of the 2019 notes. They will not refinance the district’s 2022 notes. The project will be financed primarily by the issuance of four new series over the next four years.