The cost of building a new gymnasium at Stokes-Beard Elementary could more than double original estimates after architects redesigned the project to meet storm shelter standards believed to be required under the city’s building code.
Columbus Municipal School District trustees are considering whether to request an exception to the code that could save more than $3 million on the project, which was originally estimated at $2.8 million but is now projected at $6.4 million.
“If they would grant us that, then we could do other things that’s needed within the school district,” Board President Robert Smith told The Dispatch after the board’s regular meeting Monday. “There’s nothing wrong with asking. ‘You have not because you ask not.’ So we want to go through the proper processes as far as doing it.”
The project is one of several funded by the district’s $36 million bond voters approved in May 2024.
Jose Arellano, principal architect for PryorMorrow, told the board the project was redesigned as a full-scale storm shelter, attributing the change to the city’s adoption of the 2021 International Building Code.
The code requires certain educational buildings with an occupancy load of 50 or more to have a storm shelter that can withstand 250 mile per hour winds.
“The way the code reads now, any additions to any buildings that you have will require a storm shelter,” Arellano said.
However, the 2018 International Building Code, which the city was previously using, includes the same language, rules and exceptions related to educational buildings as the 2021 version.
That redesign replaced traditional brick-and-block construction with 24-foot-tall precast, reinforced concrete walls, Arellano said, accounting for the increased cost.
Smith asked if it would be possible for the board to petition the city for an exception to the new code, essentially grandfathering the project in under previous code.
“I’ve not heard of any retroactive (action), where you started and then they adopt a new code,” Arellano said. “We have had where you are deep into construction, you have a tight budget and then you go and petition for the code to be amended by the city.”
Arellano said PryorMorrow would be happy to help compile any data needed to help the district’s case, though he seemed unsure whether the request would be granted.
“I don’t know if the city will be able to do that,” he said. “They do it for residential. They just about always get rid of the fire suppression system required for single homes. But doing it at this level, I don’t know that they can do that.”
A possible exception?
While Columbus Building Official Nathan Katona could not speak to whether the planning commission or city council would grant an exception in this case, he said the district is free to request one.
“If they wanted a variance, of course, we can submit something to the city council as far as either undue hardship or (the argument that) this wouldn’t make sense to have a storm shelter just for a gymnasium,” he said. “… They absolutely have that right to ask for an exception or a variance, or the city council could even rule to strike that requirement from the code.”
However, Katona noted the code does include an exception for new buildings added to existing educational sites. If the size of the building is not sufficient enough to accommodate the required storm shelter occupancy for the entire campus, the shelter is only required to serve the occupancy load of the new structure, or the external gymnasium in this case.
“In that case, it says that they just have to have it for the occupancy of that new building,” he said.
If the district does have to cough up an extra $3.6 million, Holly Rogers, chief financial officer for CMSD, doesn’t expect the extra money to eat into bond funds allocated for other projects.
“Everything was budgeted (for the) worst case scenario, so we’ve had savings from other projects that we were holding to the end, and this might have to feed into that,” she said. “So we’d still be within our set budget. It wouldn’t knock off the projects of anything else.”
As of Monday, figures provided by CMSD show the district has saved roughly $5.7 million on bond projects so far when comparing original cost estimates to actual bid prices and approved change orders.
Other business
During Monday’s meeting, the board also approved a resolution establishing lease terms for 12 residential parcels located on 16th Section land in Burns Bottom that are included in the Parkview development project. Because the parcels are located on 16th Section property, they cannot be sold outright and instead must be leased through the school district.
Through the Columbus Redevelopment Authority, the city has spent seven years acquiring parcels within the Burns Bottom district to redevelop.
Most of the parcels carry 99-year renewable forever leases, but 12 of the parcels lost that status due to an unrenewed tax sale that occurred after the 1890 Mississippi Constitution, leaving 40 years as the maximum lease term allowed under state law, City Attorney Jeff Turnage explained to the board Monday.
The resolution adopts a standard residential lease form, approved by the Secretary of State, and fixes the minimum annual lease payment at $300 per parcel for the full 40-year term.
“It was important to get the form of the lease approved, so that I could then take that to local banks who might want to lend on the 12 parcels, and they would be comfortable granting a mortgage loan for those parcels,” Turnage said.
Turnage said lenders had requested both the lease form and the rental amount before considering mortgage loans for the 12 parcels. He also obtained tax assessor certificates showing the parcels would otherwise lease for less than $300 annually.
“That will help a lot I believe for the buyers to be able to have comfort marketing those 12 parcels,” he said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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