Gaithersburg High School Modernization Set to Begin Next Month

Construction of the new Gaithersburg High School building is scheduled to begin March 15, according to Montgomery County Public School officials. It will be built on the existing parking lots, with the main entrance facing Education Boulevard, MCPS Construction Director James Song said.

The Gaithersburg City Council received an update on the project from MCPS Monday night.

Construction will occur in four phases, Samaha Associates architect Paul Falkenbury, who helped design the new building, explained to the council. Along with beginning construction of the new building in Phase 1A, workers will renovate the football stadium, as well as renovating the current auditorium and adding a third floor to the school's most recent addition, which was built in 2005. These two buildings are the only the structures standing now that will remain once construction is finished.

The first phase will take approximately a year and a half. Workers will finish the new building in Phase 1B, which is expected to last another year, placing the new building's completion in June 2013.

At this point, Song said, students will begin classes in the new building for the 2013-2014 school year. Phase 2A involves demolishing the old building, while in Phase 2B workers will build the new student and staff parking lots over the old site, and renovate the baseball and softball fields, as they will largely be used for construction worker parking and holding equipment. The project would then be completely finished in August 2014.

Council member Cathy Drzyzgula raised a concern about worker parking and its impact on the local community. According to Song and Falkenbury, workers would enter the construction site from De Sellum Avenue and park on the baseball field.

Song acknowledged that this would be inconvenient for residents living on De Sellum Avenue, but according to his team's research, the chosen entrance would have the least impact on traffic surrounding the school and be the safest place for students.

"In the construction business, your goal is to minimize the unanticipated events," Song said. Despite the fact that the phasing plan has been in the works for two years, "no matter how much you plan, no matter how equipped you are to do that ... you're always bound to come up with surprises. Our goal is to minimize that."

"Unless I feel comfortable about the plan in implementing this project, believe me I would not be recommending that to our board, nor to the community, nor before you," Song said. "I wish we could build this high school site somewhere else and bring in a helicopter to drop off workers to the site, but that is not realistic."

During the opportunity for public appearances, Laurie and Steve Augustino clarified certain aspects of Song's presentation. The Augustinos have been heavily involved in pushing and designing the project for five years in a variety of positions on Gaithersburg's PTA. Laurie currently serves as the Gaithersburg High School cluster coordinator for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs.

Laurie said she had been told that there would be no home games for sports that used the school's fields during the first year of construction, but that Song had mentioned during his presentation that they would not be available throughout the entire construction period. Song said he could not make any guarantees given the unpredictability of the weather; if construction is delayed because of rain, so will the return of home games at Gaithersburg. Falkenbury said that sports that used the school's gym would be able to continue playing at home.

Steve wanted to make it clear to the council and the meeting's audience that once construction began, there would be no student parking at all until construction was complete. Drzyzgula anticipates that students will use the city's public garage to park and then walk to school. Song said MCPS and the school would have to coordinate making students aware of where they can park. Drzyzgula advised that they also make students aware that they would not be allowed to park in commercial or retail parking spaces.

The council will meet again on Tuesday, Feb. 22; next Monday is Presidents' Day.