Ogden school officials mull $45M rebuild of Hillcrest and the future of Bonneville
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- The exterior of Hillcrest Elementary in Ogden, photographed Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. School district officials are mulling the future of some of Ogden’s older facilities, including Hillcrest, Bonneville and James Madison elementary schools.
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- The exterior of Bonneville Elementary in Ogden, photographed Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. School district officials are mulling the future of some of Ogden’s older facilities, including Hillcrest, Bonneville and James Madison elementary schools.
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- The exterior of James Madison Elementary in Ogden, photographed Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. School district officials are mulling the future of some of Ogden’s older facilities, including Hillcrest, Bonneville and James Madison elementary schools.
OGDEN — Ogden school officials are moving forward with a look into rebuilding Hillcrest Elementary School, a prospect that could potentially cost $45 million.
At the same time, as school officials continue to chart the morphing district’s future, there are indications — though no decisions have been made — that Bonneville Elementary and James Madison Elementary could face closure.
The Ogden school board last Thursday discussed next steps in moves to raze Hillcrest at 130 Eccles Ave. and build a new school on the grounds, focus of apparent discussion going back 18 years. Business Administrator Zane Woolstenhulme told officials at Thursday’s meeting that now is the time to go forward with a rebuild given the likelihood of dramatic increases in construction costs in the years to come.
If officials move ahead now, the price tag for building a new school would likely be around $45 million, including costs to furnish the facility as well as architect and other fees. Waiting three or four years, he said, would probably boost the price to $60 million or $70 million given inflationary pressures.
Rebuilding Polk Elementary and building East Ridge and Liberty elementary schools — the newest Ogden School District schools — cost between $25 million and $30 million each. East Ridge, replacing Horace Mann Elementary, opened in 2021 while Liberty, replacing T.O. Smith Elementary, and the new Polk opened last August.
Rebuilding Hillcrest, Woolstenhulme said, would mark the end of needed upgrades to Ogden School District’s elementary schools.
“We think if we can replace (Hillcrest), we will be done with our elementary schools, that we will have enough space in the new buildings that there will be no need to have a school older than Lincoln,” he said. Lincoln Elementary reopened in 2003 after its reconstruction due to a 2001 fire.
Hillcrest students would shift to nearby Bonneville Elementary at 490 Gramercy Ave. during construction, according to the tentative plans, still to be finalized and formally considered by school officials. Jennifer Zundel, the school board president, hinted at the possibility of merging the two schools once Hillcrest is rebuilt, with Bonneville apparently closing.
She said discussion of rebuilding Hillcrest goes back 18 years and, at the same time, noted traffic congestion in and around Bonneville when school starts and finishes given its proximity to Highland Junior High School at 325 Gramercy Ave.
It would be “really nice” not to have two schools — Bonneville and Highland — located so close together given the traffic issues, she said. Hillcrest is a better location if it and Bonneville are to be merged, she went on.
District spokesman Jer Bates, however, emphasized that no decisions have yet been made about the long-term future of Hillcrest or Bonneville. “If a new school building is constructed to replace the existing Hillcrest Elementary School, the district would consider our recent boundary and demographic studies and projections along with available student capacity of all schools to determine potential consolidation and boundary adjustments,” he said in a message to the Standard-Examiner on Monday.
At any rate, Bates noted that enrollment numbers at Hillcrest and Bonneville have declined in recent years, as at many Ogden School District schools. In 2017, enrollment at Hillcrest and Bonneville totaled 424 and 539 students, respectively, figures that have dipped to 324 and 251 for the current school year.
Likewise, he noted that both Hillcrest, built in 1958, and Bonneville, built in 1965, don’t meet current earthquake standards or incorporate the latest innovations in school safety, among other shortcomings.
“While they have been maintained well, neither building has heating and cooling systems optimal for modern teaching and learning,” Bates said. What’s more, they’re not ideally suited to incorporate modern technology, modern teaching methods or preschool programs.
Woolstenhulme, who said he hopes to bring a more formal proposal for Hillcrest’s reconstruction to a future school board meeting, said he’s hoping to avoid a property tax hike in formulating a financing plan. “But it may be that we’ll have to look at that at some point. We’ll just have to see,” he said.
Rather, he’s looking to tap lease-revenue bonds, which don’t require a vote of the public. The Polk, Liberty and East Ridge school projects were financed via an $87 million voter-approved bond.
“Lease-revenue bonds are repaid by the school district through the capital budget, most likely over the course of 20 years, similar to the repayment period of a voter-approved (general obligation) bond,” Bates said.
Asked about the future of James Madison Elementary, Bates indicated that it’s future as a school is up in the air. “The district is currently completing a demographic and enrollment study which could provide insight into the decision to adjust school boundaries, resulting in James Madison Elementary closing or being repurposed for other educational uses,” Bates said.