WESTFALL, PA — It seems that the farther from the center of the Delaware Valley Campus that plans get, the longer they take to gel.

Planning for a new Career Tech Education (CTE) center off the high school wing for grades nine and 10 were caught up in expenses and planning for a new gymnasium for a while. Now that CTE plan is moving again, plans for a cleanup of the parking area and storage area fronting the CTE site are stalled.

The Delaware Valley Board of Education had a February 18 agenda item calling for up to $100,000 for the district’s architects to “prepare construction documentation for the CTE additions and renovations… proceed with testing and site development…”

Part of the renovations include the storage area on the southern boundary of the campus.

District Superintendent Dr. John Bell presented a photo slideshow of the current storage area, which is made up largely of a hodge-podge of storage trailers and two older buildings that serve as storage and repair shops and parking for the campus snow plow.

The idea is to replace all of this with a 5,900 square-foot pole barn, which Bell said would also allow the district to stock more inventory which, acquired at greater volume, would cost less per item. “Right now, we’re running to the store all the time,” he said.

Bell offered options including separating the barn from the CTE project, making it an addendum to the CTE bids, or simply getting the environmental permitting for future use.

The funding, he said, is already included in the $10 million CTE project.

The problems for board member Jack O’Leary were an estimated $350,000 barn cost and the lack of a design plan. “We can’t go forward. There are no plans,” he said.

Bell said the cost estimate came from the last construction project, where it had been shelved, before plans were drawn.

Board Chair Pam Lutfy was concerned about cost overruns. “We’ve got a $10 million project before the community. If we’re tearing things apart and then looking for money, my biggest concern is that this got by me. I don’t want somebody to ask me about it and be forced to say ‘I don’t know,’” she said.

Still, she then admitted, “We need a pole barn.”

Bell said that the environmental permitting is the most time-consuming element in new construction.

“It makes sense to get the permitting done now while the contractors are already on site. It will cost more later,” board member John Wroblewski said.

“Or we’ll pay twice, if we decide to do something else,” O’Leary replied.

O’Leary favored re-using the old gymnasium for storage, but Bell recalled that the board’s decision to demolish the old gym has already been settled.

Additionally, board member Jack Fisher questioned the architect’s 6.5% fee, especially since state aid money was unsettled. “We still haven’t got last year’s money… I’d rather wait and see,” he said.

With the debate not headed for a resolution, Lutfy called for a motion to table, which was approved by a 5-3 vote with member Jessica Decker absent.