Homewood City Schools unveils new projects

Several construction projects will be taking place throughout Homewood City Schools this summer and during the school year, while others were recently finished.

Homewood City Schools Superintendent Justin Hefner said one of the priorities for the school system was to acquire a new maintenance building in order to move out of the current one at Waldrop Stadium.

The cost of renovations at the new building, located in West Homewood, is about $500,000. It will provide accommodations for maintenance equipment and possibly the system’s information technology department, Hefner said. The move is expected to happen in late summer.

There will also be renovations at Waldrop, Hefner said, though the design work is still ongoing and the price is not yet known.

“Our stadium hasn’t had significant work since 1997,” Hefner said.

Sometime after this upcoming football season, Hefner said the home side of the high school football stadium will be renovated, including the expansion of and improvements to the locker room, as well as increasing storage and renovating the bathrooms.

Also at the high school, the parking lot will be restriped and additional parking will be added, Hefner said. The total cost of the restriping is unknown as it will be phased over time, said HCS Director of Communications Merrick Wilson. The addition of parking had not gone to bid by press time.

There will be two phases to the parking addition, Hefner said. Front parking will be added to the Lakeshore Parkway side, followed by tiered parking next to the school. There will be about 150 or 160 parking spots added, Hefner said.

“We’re so landlocked,” Hefner said. “We’ve exhausted all opportunities to expand parking.”

A roughly $210,000 project previously finished was the renovations at the Homewood Middle School library, the first time it was renovated in 17 years, Hefner said. It is now a “totally new space,” he said. The space had formerly been equipped with original materials from the time the school opened, Hefner said. The library now has rolling carts, allowing space to open up for other uses, as well as new flooring and new meeting space, Hefner said.

Also at Homewood Middle School, renovations are ongoing at the pedestrian bridge. The system is spending about $218,000 to perform some repairs found during a routine inspection, Hefner said. The “pretty extensive work” began in December 2021 and the bridge has been closed since winter break last year, he said.

Edgewood Elementary field renovations will take place this year, Hefner said. The field is primarily a physical space for kids and is “rocky and grassy,” Hefner said. The system has dedicated about $115,000 to install a sprinkler system and add sod, Hefner said. System leaders have worked with architects to make sure the renovations help give the field a better surface for physical activities, Hefner said.

Hefner said the school system is keeping a running master list ,so they know what projects are upcoming when they submit their five-year capital plan to the state Board of Education each year. System leaders are “engaged” with all of Homewood City School facilities and remain “thoughtful” when it comes to building capacity, Hefner said.

“We’re very blessed to have quality facilities and fortunate to have the funding to keep them up,” Hefner said