Solution to Palmetto High flooding could top $25 million

The School Board of Manatee County is ready to put big time and money into fixing a historical problem at Palmetto High School.

As the decades passed, regulations changed and new facilities were continually built on higher ground, creating a “bowl” where the older, low-lying buildings now sit. It collects rain at the start of every school year, and students navigate flooded walkways on their way to class.

“We have people in our office that went to school here in the 1970s and they were walking through water at that time,” said Mike Pendley, executive planner for the school district.

At its workshop on Friday afternoon, the board also heard from John Foley, an engineer with Foley/Kolarik Inc. in Palmetto. He and Pendley offered the school board a list of immediate solutions with different costs and various degrees of effectiveness.

Most of the immediate solutions were labeled as “partial” or “mostly” effective, and they ranged between $15,000 and $2.1 million each. Out of more than a dozen possible solutions, Foley pointed to four — totaling $905,000 — that would best address the issue, at least in the short term.

“It won’t completely fix it, but we feel like doing some of those things will be pretty effective in keeping that flooding from happening,” said Jane Dreger, director of construction services for the school district.

An immediate solution was needed to fix drainage issues on the campus, which includes the deepening and lowering of retention ponds, allowing for more water flow. But a complete, long-lasting solution would take far more effort and money.

The only permanent fix was a large-scale construction project that would include bulldozing more than half a dozen old buildings, raising the ground elevation and constructing a new, centralized building.

Friday’s presentation included a “placeholder” budget of $25 million for the project, not including the immediate drainage projects that would first take place. The budget is likely to increase after Manatee moves forward with planning and finalizing the details.

All but one board member was interested in tackling the costly project after dealing with the immediate drainage issues. The school’s leadership was equally excited to address the decades-old problem.

“What would your recommendation be to the board if we are going to hold you to a higher standard of academic excellence in the sciences, math and foreign language, which do not require school-district issued swimsuits and rubber boots,” board member Scott Hopes said.

“Get to building,” said Carl Auckerman, the principal of Palmetto High.

Hopes said he wanted to build a state-of-the art facility after fixing the drainage issues, clearing the old buildings and raising the ground elevation. Gina Messenger, the board chair, nodded her head in agreement.

“I hope we can find a pathway forward to do that as quickly as possible,” she said. “I think we, as a board and as a district, have made a commitment to Palmetto.”

While a construction project would address the flooding issue, it would also go a long way in making the campus more attractive and inviting, said Charlie Kennedy, the board’s vice chair.

“A lot of the One Town, One Team group is here, and a lot of that conversation has been about how do we attract top-performing academic kids to campus,” he said.

Board member James Golden said he wanted to permanently fix the issue and prevent a future school board from dealing with the same historical problem. While he seemed agreeable to the big project, he also wanted an all-encompassing plan for both immediate and future projects.

“I don’t like this short-term, long-term.” he said. “I want an integrated solution that gets us to where we all probably want to be two to three years from now.”

The only pushback came from board member Dave Miner, who questioned the need for construction when the district could save money and focus all of its efforts on the drainage issue.

“We’ve got a bowl, we have water going in there and the idea is to find a way to get it out of the bowl,” he said.

Friday’s meeting was a conversational workshop. To begin working on the projects, board members will have to review and approve contracts at a regular meeting.

This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Solution to Palmetto High flooding could top $25 million."