After meeting this month with the Oak Park and River Forest High School board, the Imagine OPRF workgroup intends to finalize cost estimates for its campus renovation proposals.
At 7 p.m. June 26, Imagine OPRF will hold a special meeting with the school board. At that meeting, board members are expected to provide feedback about future campus renovation plans. The meeting is public, and all community members are welcome to attend.
Following that meeting, Imagine OPRF will take board member feedback and the public reaction it has gathered during community engagement sessions and formalize renovation plans and produce cost estimates.
During the May 24 school board meeting, Imagine OPRF members and advisers outlined the next several months of work, saying cost estimates for various proposals could be provided as soon as August.
“We’ll be developing the costs and commenting on the logistics,” said Terry Fielden of International Contractors Inc. “We work with several school districts in the area. They have large master plans we revisit once a year for the boards to pick out [options]. Some boards have money on hand, and some have to borrow money. We bid them out, execute them and get them done.”
Architect Mark Jolicoeur of Perkins + Will said the intent is to finalize a master plan and prioritize various campus improvements, almost like a menu, which the school board can choose from.
“This allows you to understand the larger picture and the importance of how your money is spent,” Jolicoeur said.
Imagine OPRF co-chair Mike Poirier said the workgroup will soon begin to discuss prioritization of necessary campus repairs and improvements, which will be presented to the public at a later date.
“There’s a number of competing things,” Poirier said. “One is which of the components or which ideas benefit the most number of students. One is which component addresses a situation that is currently in the worst state of repair. Over the next couple of weeks, the Imagine team is going to be struggling with that and come to its initial set of recommendations.”
Poirier said another special meeting with the school board could take place in mid-August, and a final master plan could come together in October or November.
Formed in spring 2017, the Imagine OPRF workgroup consists of community members and school officials who are expected to make a formal recommendation for long-term campus facilities plans for the OPRF campus.
