Location: Town of Rushville, Ontario County
Client: Marcus Whitman CSD
Project Type: Educational/Athletic Fields (Capital Improvements Program)
Completed: Ongoing
Engineers: Pete Gorman
Project Description:
This $35 million Capital Improvement Project for the Gorham-Middlesex Central School District kicked off in 2017 with a request from SEI Design Group to join their team leading site design and navigating the path of SED, local municipalities, and New York State Agencies approvals.
After completing a Building Conditions Survey to determine where the funds would be most effectively used, along with a wish-list of the School District’s needs, a master plan was developed for the multi-phased project.
The development of the multiple sites was broken out into four phases and included work at Marcus Whitman High School, Middlesex Valley Elementary School, Gorham Elementary School, the transportation building, and overall campus stormwater management facilities.
The first phase began construction in 2019. At the high school, this phase consisted of a multi-sport natural turf field, concession stand, and parking facility. The transportation building received drainage improvements and the stormwater management facility was enlarged and updated to the current NYSDEC regulations. At the Middlesex Valley Elementary School, a new playground focusing on ADA and inclusive play elements was built along with improvements to the parking facilities and drainage around the main building. In addition, Gorham Elementary School received some improvements to the parking facilities.
The second phase of the project (2019-2020) focused on interior work and upgrades to the HVAC systems at the high school. The site design was limited to utility design in support of this interior work with minor improvements to building entrances.
The third phase (2020-2021) included significant improvement to the main entrance of the high school and district office. Tied into this work was the design and construction of the pedestrian access to the new indoor track and sports complex and main building façade overlooking the Canandaigua Lake watershed.
Phase four of the project returned to the design of athletics facilities at the high school with the construction of a renovated tennis complex. The aging tennis courts were rehabilitated as opposed to being completely reconstructed to fit into the project budget. The existing tennis court surface was milled down, and a new asphalt top layer and acrylic court surface were placed over the top. The court striping was laid out to be compliant with NFHS current standards allowing for Section V competitions to be played at the school. New fencing, pedestrian access, field amenities (drinking fountain, benches, information kiosk), and drainage improvements completed the design.
With completion of phase four and the overall project at the end of summer 2022, this project is a very successful example of what good multidisciplinary teamwork can accomplish.
