Norwin School District will move forward with improvements to its football stadium and high school auditorium, but some school board members are lobbying to scale back costs, which could exceed $30 million.
The school board on Monday authorized a Mt. Lebanon architecture firm to develop bids for the project.
DRAW Collective was directed to develop the specifications for the stadium project, which could cost $25 million and the high school auditorium, which could cost $8 million, according to estimates from the firm.
The idea would be to seek bids early next year, said Superintendent Natalie McCracken.
But the board also gave its approval to creating an alternative set of bids that would address the safety of the stadium, but limit it's costs to $15 million.
It wouldn't include a second floor above the bleachers that would contain a community room and a press box would be scaled-down from the initial design.
Requiring the architect to create specifications from a description of the project envisioned by Director Alex Detschelt, who admitted he is not an expert in that field, could delay the bidding process, McCracken said.
Ryan Kirsch, the district's business affairs director, said the cost of alternate specifications and bidding could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
DRAW Collective did not have a representative at the meeting.
The firm previously told the board that the new project would be built to code and include an interior elevator and make the area for the visitors bleachers handicapped-accessible. Space for training facilities for the sports teams would be at the bottom of the home side bleachers.
The initial design was completely over the top and would require the district to take on debt that was unsustainable and was an example of reckless spending, Detschelt said.
Director Ray Kocak, who opposed moving forward with the project, failed to get the board to delay the decision on the bidding process until December.
Director Shawna Ilagan, who had proposed capping the stadium project at $15 million, said that money could be saved by making the project simpler. She claimed that about $15 million of the total estimated costs are tied up in the construction of the building behind the bleachers.
Board President Matt Thomas pointed out that the design has been discussed with board members, the administration and the architect over a seven-month period and the complaints didn't come until the 11th hour.
The board agreed to bid the auditorium project without any alternative. The main focus is to improve the acoustics and create sections for large group instruction that could be used as study hall or classroom space, McCracken said.