POTTSTOWN PA – As Pottsgrove School District students returned to classes Monday (Aug. 31, 2009), progress continued on several fronts in the effort to renovate and expand the district’s cramped Ringing Rocks Elementary School.

Entrance doors of Ringing Rocks Elementary School, Kauffman Road.

To move the Ringing Rocks project ahead, the district Board of School Directors recently:

• Authorized an engineering study to determine the feasibility of installing geothermal heating and cooling equipment as part of proposed reconstruction at the school, 1401 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA;
• Agreed to pay for a land development survey to comply with Lower Pottsgrove Township review needs; and
• Asked for more information about a proposed separate topographical and boundary survey of the campus that includes Ringing Rocks, Pottsgrove High School, its athletic fields, and the district administrative offices.

Geothermal considerations

Swinging at Ringing Rocks' playground; the high school stadium is in the background.

Board members last week (Aug. 25, 2009) authorized their designers for Ringing Rocks, Gilbert Architects Inc. of Lancaster PA, to spend $8,800 to conduct geothermal energy testing on two sample wells to be drilled near the playground west of the school building.

The tests will determine if there is sufficient water in the ground beneath the school to create an efficient heat exchange that would warm and cool an expanded facility, according to district Business Administrator David Nester and board Treasurer Fred Remelius.

Installation of geothermal equipment was among items discussed by the board during a public comment meeting on Ringing Rocks’ expansion designs earlier this year. Directors at the time expressed skepticism over the cost and efficiency of geothermal technology. Conducting the tests gives them more information on the option.

Land development survey

Earlier last month (Aug. 11, 2009), directors accepted a bid of $3,962 to gather land development information that will be needed to move the Ringing Rocks expansion, whenever finally approved, through local municipal review.

Final plans for the school, which are not expected to be completed for several months, ultimately must be accepted by Lower Pottsgrove’s planning and township commissions, and possibly by its zoning hearing board.

One development concern with the project, already raised by township officials, is the potential for increased storm water runoff southeast down the hill from Ringing toward the high school, Nester said.

Topographical and boundary survey

The need to eventually prepare planning documents for Ringing gives the district an opportunity to contemplate future development as well, particularly at the high school and its athletic fields, Nester noted.

Although members of the public who commented on district expansion plans earlier in the year made it clear they were not eager to pay for improvements in the high school or fields, administrators during the board’s Aug. 11 meeting pointed to potential cost savings by doing a campus-wide topographical and boundary survey in conjunction with a similar survey that must be done for Ringing.

Directors had their reservations, and asked for more information to be supplied later.

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ Aug. 25 meeting):

• Tah-Daah! District Unveils New Web Look
• Pottsgrove Accepts Personnel Changes
• School District Salary Schedules Approved
• Western Center: A Work In Progress
• Budget Impasse Could Pinch Pottsgrove By December
• Inspectors Finishing Up At Western Vo-Tech

Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):

• As School Opens, Progress On Ringing Rocks’ Project
• Surprise Enrollment Spurs Demographic Interest
• District Assembles Ringing Rocks Planning Team
• District OKs Architect Negotiations
• Consensus On Ringing Renovations: $16M
• Ringing Rocks Proposals Aired Tuesday
• Ringing Rocks Re-Examined April 14
• Pottsgrove To Trust-But-Verify On Ringing Plans
• Ringing Rocks Plans Take Another Step
• No Shortage Of Ideas At Pottsgrove Meeting
• Weigh In On Pottsgrove Renovations
• Framing The Rocks Discussion
• Response Mixed To Pottsgrove Improvements
• District Invites Public For Study Results
• A Different Rocks, But Only As A Concept

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