The Christian County school board took steps at Thursday night’s meeting to move forward on the consolidation of the two high schools by approving the documents for land acquisition, construction, and the schematic design to send to the Kentucky Department of Education for approval.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Josh Hunt presented the purchase agreement between the Board of Education and Associated Ventures, LLC in the amount of $6 million for the acquisition of approximately 87 acres of land located at Fort Campbell Boulevard at the intersection of Lovers Lane, which has received approval from KDE.
The board unanimously approved the land purchase with board member Mike Walker stressing to the public they looked at 20 properties and this was the best property and price the district could get.
Board member Lindsey Clark agreed and said they have a restricted time frame to build the school.
The board also unanimously approved the BG-1 for construction of the consolidated high school campus along with Gateway Academy in the amount of $97 million and project costs totaling $107 million.
The board also approved the schematic design documents after a presentation by Keith Sharp with JKS Architects and Jack Faber with Hafer Architects. Sharp said he was excited to be a part of this project that is a moment in time that will go down in history without any undue burden on the public.
After Faber presented the schematic design, Walker asked about the results of a traffic impact study at the location of the consolidated school which Rick Hayden with Hafer Architects said came back favorable.
In other action, the board voted 3-2 to approve an agreement with RunSwitch to provide communication services to the community, media, etc. for five months at a cost of $6,000 per month with a $30,000 cap. Walker and Clark cast the nay votes.
