Still far away from a fundraising goal of $200,000, board members of the Chilkat Valley Preschool Monday agreed to seek a one-year extension of its June 30 deadline for vacating the Haines Borough’s Human Resource Building.
Board chair Alissa Henry said securing grants, preparing a site and building a new structure would take at least until June 2016.
The group has raised $55,413 in five months, including $25,000 of its own money, but estimates it will need at least $200,000 to leverage outside funding and meet a projected $400,000 price tag for a new building.
The board on Monday also charted a rough strategy for finding its next site, with its top choice erecting a new school on property near the Haines School. Members identified two lots adjacent to the school: a borough lot west of Allen Road and another owned by the Elks behind the former lodge building.
“I think we should stick to our original goal,” said member Kat Cheney. “That’s what started this ball rolling. Let’s stick with it.”
A location near the school would make the preschool an asset to the Haines Borough School District in the event the district starts into pre-kindergarten education. “If they had to take on pre-K, then it’s right there,” said preschool manager Renee Hoffman.
Better energy efficiency and a more convenient location were other reasons cited.
Also, raising funds for a new building may be easier than finding renovation money for an existing building – such as the Human Resource Building – that may require continual maintenance, Hoffman said. “It’s an endless effort to raise enough money to maintain this building at the age that it is,” she said.
Board members said they’d likely be looking for borough help to acquire either of the lots near the school. “We need to spend time with the borough and research our borough options,” said Cheney.
The board held out the possibility of keeping the school at its current location, but only as a less preferable option, and one that might be workable if the borough were willing to donate the building to the school. In that event, the building might be able to be used as an in-kind donation to leverage out-of-town grant funds to renovate it, they said.
Cheney said Haines Borough Manager David Sosa expressed to her that the municipality would like to sell the building at market value and get it on the tax rolls. The building needs at least $150,000 in improvements, including a new roof, siding, windows, floors and plumbing, he said.
The board also left open the option of using other buildings around town for a new site, agreeing to visit a building on Willard Street. The board ruled out acquiring a used, modular unit – members said the ones they’d seen hadn’t looked very good – and ruled out a home on Mud Bay Road behind Fort Seward’s Officers’ Row.
The group also ranked as a less preferable option using land offered through a lease by the Presbyterian Church.
Members said they would incorporate their priorities into a strategic plan looking toward the school’s future.
Board chair Henry said the meeting was productive. “I feel like we’ve (identified) options before, but I think now we’ve got some direction. I’m starting to understand there’s a whole process to doing something like this. It’s a lot of talking and a lot of politics.”
The board meets again 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at the preschool building on First Avenue North.