Neshaminy looks for ways to trim costs for new school as bids come in $8.5 million higher than estimate

Peg Quann, Bucks County Courier Times
·2 min read

Inflation is hitting the Neshaminy School District which must hold another public hearing on the proposal to build a new elementary school because the overall maximum project cost is $8.49 million more than anticipated once the bids came in.

The maximum project cost to build the new school on the grounds of the Maple Point Middle School now stands at $51.86 million, with the maximum construction costs alone totaling $40.82 million.

Spiezle Architectural Group has created plans for the school, including renderings of what the new campus could look like and completing site work to make sure the area near Maple Point Middle School could sustain a building.
Spiezle Architectural Group has created plans for the school, including renderings of what the new campus could look like and completing site work to make sure the area near Maple Point Middle School could sustain a building.

Because these figures are more than 8% over the initial maximum costs that the school district presented at the first hearing back in December 2021, the hearings must be held again under Pennsylvania Act 34 of 1973. The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 18 in the board room of the Neshaminy district administrative offices at Maple Point Middle School, 2250 Langhorne-Yardley Road in Middletown.

The school board planned to build the new school on the same property as the Maple Point Middle School to replace the Pearl S. Buck Elementary School on Top Road in Levittown. The Buck school was built in the late 1960s.

More:Neshaminy taxpayers voice concern, support for new school plan at Maple Point

"The Pearl S. Buck Elementary School is inefficient to operate due to its size and the physical upgradesrequired to maintain and renew building systems for continued operation. The building is difficult toexpand and renovate efficiently due to its original configuration with circular classroom wings," the district stated in its initial hearing document.

It noted that the new school would be more efficient with state-of-the-art supplies and that it would share parking with the Maple Point Middle School.

School Board President John Allen said that the bidding has been "affected by the pandemic and supply chain issues."

He said the school board and the district's architectural firm, Spiezle, went back to the drawing board and have been looking at some ways to reduce costs, such as going with a different roofing system and other alternative equipment that "is the same quality but more readily available at the moment."

He's hoping that when new bids are put out the supply chain issues will be improving.

"Obviously this will delay for a little bit," he said, when the school will be completed. He's hoping now that can be in late 2023 or the spring of 2024. "When the bids come back, some supplies could come down," he said.

More:Now that Neshaminy has ok to build Maple Point Elementary, what about its other Levittown schools?

The district at one time had 10 elementary schools but consolidated them into six. Now enrollment is expected to increase from almost 9,000 students in the 2020-21 school year to more than 9,600 in the 2025-26 school year.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Neshaminy bids for new school come in $8.5M more than estimated