DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Renovations will begin soon at one of Walton County’s oldest schools.
Walton Middle School’s long-anticipated makeover won’t launch for several months, but planning is well underway.
All but two of the structures on the storied campus are slated for demolition after the Florida Department of Education determined it would cost more to repair them than to rebuild, according to Mark Gardner, the school district’s facilities director.
The first structure went up at the site in the early 1900s, and the bulk of the existing buildings were constructed in the 1950s. The most recent construction was in 2002. That building will remain.
“Wings of the site were built over decades … so there was never really overall master planning,” Gardner said Wednesday morning. “It’s time to stop adding another wing on.”
Under the proposal presented to the School Board on Tuesday evening, all academic classes would be located in a central building enveloping an enclosed courtyard. A detached gym would usher visitors onto new sports fields.
“The plan that you see tonight is a working document that is constantly changing,” Gardner told the School Board. “We have one shot at making this right. It’s a 50-, 60-year investment.”
Board members raised few questions about the educational portion of the design, but were unable to reach a consensus about the best proposal for the softball, baseball and football fields.
“We really need to look at the priority list,” board member Gail Smith said during the 30-minute discussion.
The challenge, Gardner said, is that the portion of the property where the fields are planned slopes down and borders a protected wetlands. Room also must be left for a drainage plan with retention ponds.
“How we work this out has a lot of play yet,” said Steve Christopher, construction manager for Lord & Son Construction, which has been hired for the project. “I think you’ve got the land you need, it might just take some dollars.”
School district officials briefly considered moving the Walton Middle to a new location to avoid those types of complications, but Gardner said some version of a school has been located on the property on Park Avenue since about 1920.
It served as the original site of Walton High School and later for Maude Saunders Elementary School. It also has an “intrinsic” value for the now-historic neighborhood that surrounds it, Gardner said.
After the design for the site is approved, the district will receive a cost estimate. If all goes according to plan, work will begin at the end of the 2013-14 school year.
Gardner said the district still is considering whether to move all the students to another location temporarily so construction can be completed or do the project in phases and keep the school onsite.
The School Board on Tuesday approved the parking, busing and building plans, but delayed making any decisions on the sports potion at the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools Carlene Anderson.
More decisions will be made about the construction and other issues in the coming weeks and months.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.