A committee of volunteers has recommended the Jordan School Board close nine buildings because of seismic problems.
Committee members also recommended the district retrofit 28 additional buildings.Replacing the nine buildings would cost the district an estimated $64.1 million; retrofitting costs are estimated at $32.7 million. Those two figures amount to more money than the district has in its entire capital outlay budget.
"The committee recognizes that this is an unrealistic percentage of the budget to be allocated to seismic modifications and strongly recommends, therefore, that new revenues be sought," the report says.
The 32 volunteers also told the board they were committed to contributing their personal energies to accomplish their goals.
The group started by looking at the 1991 seismic report and identifying the schools rated "poor" and "very poor." Next, they compared the cost of retrofitting the buildings that had serious seismic problems to the cost of replacing the buildings.
The committee visited nine sites and recommended they all be replaced.
Its report was presented to the finance committee, which will take seven committee reports and come up with an overall budget allocation for each within the next month.
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(Additional information)
At risk
Jordan School District buildings that should be replaced because of seismic problems (in priority order):
1. Bingham Middle School
2. Riverton Elementary
3. Jordan High
4. Midvale Elementary
5. Jordan Resource Center
6. Sandy Elementary
7. Valley High
8. Butler Elementary
9. District maintenance
building