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School's design has safety in mind

The new Dunedin Elementary will be built to withstand 130 mph winds and will have better vehicle access and 32 security cameras.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published November 27, 2005

DUNEDIN - While Dunedin's old middle school at 900 Union St. has fallen to the wrecking ball, a new elementary school will rise in its place.

The new and improved Dunedin Elementary will be larger, more secure and beefed up to meet hurricane standards.

And it will come with good news for drivers: Separate and larger-scale bus and parent-driver loops should help alleviate traffic nightmares.

"We will be using the latest technologies and designs and it will meet the Miami-Dade hurricane codes. In that way it will be radically different than the existing Dunedin Elementary," said Tony Rivas, director of facilities for Pinellas County schools.

Fleischman-Garcia Architects designed the new facility to fit in with the community aesthetically, said Jeff Pelszynski, a senior associate with the firm and project manager for the school.

"It will be broken up into smaller units so it won't look like a huge box and will be less intimidating to the youngsters," he said. The proposed design incorporates five buildings, most of which are two stories high, connected by covered walkways.

With the city's Scottish heritage in mind, the architect suggested a stucco exterior with painted metal roofs and blue ceramic tile accents that "evoke a Scottish-plaid feel," he said.

Those details have not yet been finalized.

What is known is that the school building will have more than 97,000 square feet to accommodate 738 students. It will contain six kindergarten classrooms, 18 primary classrooms for grades 1-3 and 12 intermediate classrooms for grades 4-5. Eight of the classrooms, an additional 13,000 square feet, were added to the original plan to meet new state class size reduction requirements.

There will be three separate playgrounds for kindergarten, primary and intermediate grades with age-specific equipment.

In today's world, safety is front and center.

"The overall design is in keeping with the latest advances in security and surveillance," said Pelszynski.

The entire area will be fenced, with gates open at arrival and dismissal times.

"No one will be able to gain access to the campus without going through the administration office," Pelszynski said. Thirty-two cameras for full-time surveillance are incorporated into the plan.

The media center and multipurpose rooms on the west side of the 12-acre site may be accessed separately after hours for community programs, school functions and other meetings.

Pelszynski said a lot of effort went into making sure local traffic would be minimally affected by school traffic.

School buses will enter and exit onto Union Street. The bus loop will accommodate up to 18 buses at one time, making backups onto the roadway more unlikely.

Parents, on the other hand, will enter on Patricia Avenue and share a common driveway, and bus loop if needed, with the recently built Dunedin Highland Middle School. Since starting and closing times are different for the two schools, officials predict the plan will work well.

The school also will be able to function as an emergency shelter for the community as it is designed to withstand winds up to 130 mph.

It all comes with a price tag of $19-million, up $5-million since this summer.

Jim Miller, director of real property management for Pinellas County schools, attributed the price increase to the additional classrooms required and a rise of construction costs.

"Because of the hurricanes and storms we've had, the cost of steel, concrete and building materials has increased. They've had major issues in trying to get products," he said.

The school will replace the current 73,000-square-foot Dunedin Elementary School at 531 Beltrees St., which is considered functionally obsolete. The 12 buildings on that site were constructed in the 1920s, 1950s and 1980s. The school currently serves 605 students.

At first, school officials considered rebuilding on the current site, but officials didn't want the 1980s structures torn down because they were too new. Attempts to build on the limited acreage without modifying those structures and interrupting the education of the students would have been problematic.

So officials elected to build the new elementary school about a mile away on existing school property next to the new middle school.

Officials aren't certain what they will do with the current elementary school, said Rivas.

The new school is expected to be ready for occupancy for the beginning of the 2007 school year.

Fleischman-Garcia based the plan for the school on another school they designed, Shore Acres Elementary in St. Petersburg. That school won a design award from the Florida Educational Facilities Planners Association at its 2005 winter conference.

Pelszynski said the design of the school should be in keeping with the small-town character of Dunedin.

"We're making every attempt to save seven extra large oaks and adding other trees to the perimeter," he said.

"We're hoping Dunedin Elementary will be well received by the community."

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]