ALPINE MAY BUILD SCHOOLS IN PHASES

Alpine School Board members weren't kidding when they said getting the money for new construction and renovations to meet an enrollment boom was the easy part.

In June, voters approved undertaking $98 million in general obligation bonds by an almost 2-1 margin. That will cost the average homeowner $88 per year in new property taxes.The money will be used to build as many as eight new schools or renovate existing schools to hold more students. The Alpine School Board will issue $73 million this year to construct two new high schools and two new elementaries, one of each in the American Fork-Highland-Alpine and Orem-Lindon areas.

Board members recently selected Valentiner Architects PC of Salt Lake to design the two elementary schools, while MHT Architects Inc. in Salt Lake was tabbed to design the high schools.

To save money and time, the board asked the firms to present existing plans for the schools that could be modified to cut costs.

Construction on the schools could begin as early as this fall. However, district leaders are currently leaning toward plans to start construction on the Orem high school and the American Fork elementary this year - with the elementary opening as early as next fall and the high school opening the year after. If officials hold construction on the other schools for favorable building costs and conditions, the Orem elementary would open in fall 1996 and the American Fork high school would follow the next fall.

Superintendent Steven Baugh told the board that phasing in construction of the schools could also ease the strain on the district's maintenance and operations budget when the schools have to be staffed.

Alpine Business Administrator Jack McKelvy agreed, saying the school staffing could add $2 million to maintenance and operations costs, "which scares us a little bit."

The district owns the land for the schools. The American Fork-area elementary will be located north of American Fork Junior High, near the American Fork-Highland border, while the high school will be built just north of the State Developmental Center. The Orem elementary will be located near Canyon View Junior High. Recently, the district purchased 40 acres in northeast Orem from the LDS Church, where the Orem-Lindon high school will be built.

Alpine district will issue the remaining $25 million from the bond authorization in 1997. That money will be used for a combination of new school construction - perhaps as many as four new elementary schools could be built before the turn of the century - and districtwide renovations.

Board members passed temporary boundary changes for the Orem-Lindon and American Fork-Highland-Alpine areas and extended an open-enrollment policy that allows secondary students from Alpine and Highland to attend less-crowded secondary schools in the Lehi area. These policies will remain in effect until the four new schools are built.