$800K demolition planned for closed elementary school

Northmont will start accepting bids for the demolition project on Oct. 24, and the deadline to submit is 2 p.m. that day, according to Bob McClintock, the district’s administrator of construction.

Demolition is expected to start in March or April of next year.

The district will perform asbestos abatement in the building, which first was built in 1921. Two additions followed, including the last one in the 1950s.

The district will pay for the abatement and demolition with funds from a bond issue that voters approved in November of 2011.

District officials decided to demolish the school building after it didn’t sell at a Sept. 27 auction.

The auction had stipulations because the area where the school is located is zoned residential, and potential buyers have to make sure they have an acceptable use for the building, according to McClintock.

“Anyone who wanted to use that for another purpose would have to go to Englewood for a zoning change,” McClintock said. “Bottom line, we didn’t receive any viable bidders, so the building did not sell.”

The district was auctioning the 51,400 square foot building and surrounding ground, but not the Wee Bolts football field that sits next door.

“We sold the contents of the building,” said Sarah Zatik, district superintendent. That included books, shelving and desks.

The district netted $23,000 from the sale of the contents, according to McClintock.

The district will also have to do an asbestos abatement of the building before demolition.

“It’s an old building, so it was built with asbestos,” McClintock said. “If you are going to demolish (the school building), you are going to create a lot of what’s called flyable asbestos, floating around. So, you have to abate it first and get all the asbestos out of it first.”

Representatives of Regional Air Pollution Control Agency and Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County will be on the scene when the abatement begins, according to McClintock.

The abatement work could begin as early as December and take up to four months to complete. The demolition, which will begin after the abatement, could take up to four months to complete.

The district’s Board of Education could vote on the demolition bids during its Nov. 17 meeting.

Edgington, which was named after a former principal in the district, had about 485 students enrolled in its last school year. The students are now attending the district’s other elementary schools.