FREEHOLD – The Freehold Borough K-8 School District Board of Education is continuing to advance a construction project that will address the issue of student overcrowding in the district’s buildings.
Actions on the construction project were taken at a board meeting on July 19.
The $33 million project was authorized by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education in 2016 and will expand the district’s three schools: the Freehold Learning Center, Dutch Lane Road, (pre-K through 5); the Park Avenue Elementary School, Park Avenue, (pre-Kindergarten through 5); and the Freehold Intermediate School, Park Avenue, (6-8).
The board passed a resolution approving a dedication of land on Dutch Lane Road and East Main Street to Monmouth County.
According to the resolution, the proposed expansion to the Freehold Learning Center includes a new one-way driveway as a secondary means of ingress that is 180 feet from the nearest road intersection.
The school board applied to the Monmouth County Planning Board for site plan approval, according to the resolution, and in conjunction with the application, the county requested that the school board dedicate land to the county along the property’s frontages on Dutch Lane Road and East Main Street, both of which are county roads.
Dedicating the land along the property’s frontages to the county will provide the required width of each right of way, according to the resolution.
As a result of the road dedications, the school board approved a $7,500 change order in the design contract for the Freehold Learning Center to the firm of Fraytak, Veisz, Hopkins and Duthie Architects.
As previously reported, the board authorized a total payment of $375,120 to the firm in 2016 for the schematic design of projects for the three schools as part of their expansion. The $7,500 change order increases the payment to $382,620.
The change order is for additional survey work required by the Monmouth County Planning Board for the Dutch Lane Road and East Main Street road dedications, according to the school board.
And, the board awarded a $26,820 contract to Berto Construction for paving at the Park Avenue complex.
District administrators said there is a need to widen the rear driveway and to realign the walkway leading to the Freehold Intermediate School from the Barkalow Avenue walking path in preparation for the upcoming additions and renovations.
Finally, the board authorized Business Administrator Joseph Howe to enter into a parking lot use agreement with the Olive Branch Lodge (Masons) at 2 Dutch Lane Road. The agreement will permit the school district to use the lodge’s parking lot for overflow parking during construction at the nearby Freehold Learning Center.
The terms of the agreement are as follows:
- The lodge will provide its parking lot for district use on every school day from Oct. 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, to accommodate overflow parking from the Freehold Learning Center between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
- The board will pay the lodge $2,000 for each month the lodge’s parking lot is used by the school district
- The board will provide the lodge appropriate indemnity coverage for events resulting from its use, re-stripe the parking lot at its cost and plow the lot during snow events that take place during the length of the use agreement
- The board will provide at least seven days advance notice and receive authorization from the lodge for any necessary evening use, and provide 30 days advance notice if it is to vacate the space early due to parking areas at the Freehold Learning Center reopening
From 2007 to 2016, the district’s total enrollment increased from 1,363 pupils to 1,715 pupils, according to administrators.
Some Freehold Borough pupils are educated by Freehold Borough teachers in nine classrooms that are rented in the neighboring Freehold Township K-8 School District.
The construction project will increase classroom space to 1,589 students, which still leaves the schools with an over-capacity, but puts less of a strain on classrooms, according to district administrators.