VVSD Hires All-Day Kindergarten Architect, Signs off on Improvement Projects

The Valley View Board of Education signed off on a $650,000 contract with Darien-based Wight and Company for design and engineering services on plans to outfit all 12 elementary schools to house all-day kindergarten.

In January, architect Craig Siepka that would use renovations, additions and a combination of the two to accommodate the program at Valley View schools.

The contract with Wight directs the company to work to ensure that the project budget does not exceed $12 million, with the aim of having all 12 campuses ready by the start of the 2012-13 school year.

Improvements on tap for R.C. Hill, Brooks

More projects are in store for Valley View campuses.

In exchange for back in 2010, Valley View will benefit from improvements in the village’s downtown.

The board OK’d an intergovernmental agreement that includes $1 million worth of site improvements at , 616 Dalhart Dr. According to district documents, the projects will tie the site together with downtown architecture and improve traffic flow around the school.

Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Gary Grizaffi said the work will include a new bus drop-off at the campus.

The will forgive a $250,000 in repayments from the relocation of the district’s bus barn from 135th Street to its current location at 39 Forestwood Dr. Originally, the district received $750,000 from the village to help with the relocation, to be repaid over a five-year period. Under the intergovernmental agreement, the “forgiveness” waives the two final years of payments.

The bus barn, known as the Spangler Transportation Center, will also get $250,000 in parking area improvements. The money will be used to create additional staff parking when the eventual revitalization () of the Spartans’ Square shopping center is completed. Currently, staff uses the Spartans’ Square lot for overflow parking.

Proceeds of the TIF district are used to fund capital improvement projects in Romeoville’s downtown along the Route 53 corridor. The extension allows the TIF to continue until 2024, long past the original expiration date of 2012.

Meanwhile, in Bolingbrook will get new baseball field netting to prevent foul balls from hitting cars parked at the .

Under an intergovernmental agreement, the library district will be responsible for installing netting and poles.

The netting will have to be replaced by 2022, with Valley View footing half the bill, or around $700.

Board president Steve Quigley said the library district was aware of the field’s proximity to the parking lot when it purchased the property from the school district in 2010 as part of an expansion project.