New Chapin elementary school construction gets go-ahead
The Lexington-Richland 5 school board gave its final stamp of approval recently to its new elementary school in Chapin.
Contract Construction, the firm hired by the district to build the school over the next year and a half, can now start its work in earnest.
The district agreed to pay Contract Construction $22,319,655 for the school, plus $543,000 for additional features approved at the Dec. 9 board meeting. The extras, which were recommended by the construction company, include a longer car canopy and a safety glaze that makes windows more difficult to break:
- $343,217: SchoolGuard protective coating for first floor exterior windows
- $105,425: Exterior sun shades
- $94,200: Extend car canopy by 150 linear feet
- Denied — $100,098: Clerestory windows for Pre-K and kindergarten
The Amicks Ferry Road school is scheduled to open in August 2021 and serve up to 750 students. Lexington-Richland 5 board members also gave builders approval in September to start preparing the school site early. That “early site package,” worth $3.6 million, also included the addition of a car loop for the pre-K wing.
The land the school will sit on on was purchased by the district in 2017 for $932,950.
A new school will help address the overcrowding that the school district says has forced it to freeze enrollment at other elementary schools in the area. However, the Amicks Ferry school has not been without controversy. The project upset neighbors who worried about traffic congestion and other issues caused by having an elementary school on the peninsula by Lake Murray.
Lexington-Richland 5 had the opportunity to build an elementary school a decade ago as part of its voter-approved construction plan. Although the district discreetly spent at least $1.2 million on plans for that elementary school on Derrick Pond Road, it never built the school because the land did not meet certain requirements.
The Lexington-Richland 5 school district includes Chapin, Dutch Fork, Irmo and parts of Columbia. The district is routinely recognized for having some of the highest-achieving students in the Midlands and South Carolina. Dutch Fork Elementary was recently awarded the first “green ribbon” in the state for its commitment to environmental education and sustainable practices.