Although the architects and several officials involved with the Harrison County School system have met with officials from Bridgeport and City Council, actual hands-on involvement between the two entities as it relates to a new Johnson Elementary School hasn’t ramped up just yet.

 

Recently, Harrison County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Manchin said most of the work has involved geotechnical work and selecting a site for the new $16.7 million building. Manchin said outside of working briefly with the city on flood plains, the involvement of the city will likely get more intense when the project begins in earnest – likely after the bidding process, which should be after September of this year.

 

While the question of level of involvement remains to be seen between the two entities, the question on whether getting utilities to the site will be an issue appears to already be answered. During this morning’s Bridgeport Utility Board meeting, City Engineer Tom Brown talked about water and electric that the school will need.

 

“We have an eight-inch sewer line right there, which should be more than enough to serve the school,” Brown to members of the BUB.

 

The line is there as the result of a near half a million dollar project that was completed last year. It was in 2015 that D&M Contracting out of New Alexandria, Pa., did the project that not only repaired the slip in the wooded area behind the sidewalk leading down from Hall Street to the entrance across the road to Woodside Heights, it also replaced the sidewalk and added new guardrails and ornamental lighting. Another part of the project saw contractors bore under the road and put in a sewer line into the area that now holds youth baseball games.

 

The new sewer line is the one that will tie into Johnson Elementary School that was part of what was a $422,000 project with the contingency fee included.

 

“The new sewer line is very close to where the school is being proposed,” said Brown. “There was nothing of significance on that side of the road prior to the project. With this line, there should be sufficient capacity.”

 

The project was done as the result of a slip on the hillside above the sidewalk that was replaced that could have led to the failure of the sewer line already in place had the slip worsened. The project had nothing to do with the Johnson Elementary site, said Brown, which wasn't in the thought process when the city began trying to get the permission needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers several years ago.

 

Brown also said there is water within the immediate project area as well. The only city utility requirement that will need to be addressed is storm water management.

 

“We’ll need to work with them as far as storm water drains to make sure that’s handled properly,” said Brown.

 

As announced in recent days, the new Johnson Elementary will be built on the site of the youth league fields, just off of Johnson Avenue and beside the parking lot of Wayne Jamison Field that abuts the same roadway. A portion of the parking lot, Manchin said, will need to be utilized for the 65,000 square foot building.

 

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Editor's Note: Former Bridgeport Mayor Joe Timms sits at the head of the conference room table at today's Bridgeport Utility Board meeting in the top photo. City Engineer Tom Brown updates the board on various projects, including Johnson Elementary in the bottom photo.