NOCONA

The first site considered for constructing a new school was to build on the existing high school site. Other acreage reviewed included:  Benton-Whiteside acreage off Hwy 82, near the museum (not for sale), 60 acres west on Hwy 82 within the city limits, 100 acres near the Nocona cemetery on Airport Road (No longer for sale)

The condition of the existing high and middle school buildings would require several very expensive code requirements, which would substantially reduce construction dollars to provide necessary additional classroom and activities spaces for the high school.

There is not adequate space to accommodate a new high school and the current buildings. Besides, adding a new building to the existing site will compound flooding problems due to inadequate drainage capacity, probably making things worse in the future.

The selected site meets the current and future needs of the school district. As with any site, multiple means of egress must be available for future development.  At a minimum, Texas Education Agency recommends 40 acres for a high school and 25 acres for a middle school. Finding enough land near the city of Nocona for a new high school and future development was a difficult task. The proposed site meets the size requirement not only for a high school with all athletic facilities adjacent to the school but it also provides space for a future middle school with a separate entrance apart from the high school. The site is also large enough to build a future elementary school.

Although the Nocona School District reaches as far north as the Red River, only available land near the city was considered practical. This site was evaluated for issues that will impact the cost of construction such as soil conditions, grade elevations, and utilities. Each of these items were addressed prior to proceeding forward with the development of preliminary plans to establish square footage of a new high school.

The foundation is the most critical element of a building’s design and greatly adds to its longevity. With that in mind, soil conditions are extremely significant to a construction project and have a direct impact on what kind of foundation a building needs, which subsequently affects the overall construction cost. On August 5, 2015, Apex Geoscience Inc. (Apex) conducted a soil exploration at the proposed site for the new Nocona High School.  

According to the architect, the soil conditions at the selected site will allow construction to use on-site material for select fill material meaning additional significant savings by not having to pay for select fill material and then transporting the select fill material to the site. Based upon anticipated cost savings in foundation design and site work, this proposed site will return several hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction cost savings to Nocona ISD.

Four borings were drilled by Apex Geoscience in August of 2015. Ground water was encountered at boring location #1 at the 6’ depth, which would be outside of the area of planned construction.  Soil conditions on site are more than excellent with a plasticity index (PI) of around 12 based upon the report produced. A very conservative estimate is that the existing site soil conditions at the proposed site for the new Nocona High School will save at least $8-12/square foot in foundation costs by using spread footings with a slab on grade. 

The other borings did not have any ground water. Based upon the preliminary finding of the soils report, a shallow foundation system (spread footings and no piers for the main area of the new construction) would the recommended foundation. Again, due to high quality of the soil on-site, additional construction cost savings can be achieved by avoiding a drilled pier foundation system (with even more expensive steel casings required when ground water is encountered).

A map from the Texas Railroad Commission reveals where the 5 abandoned wells are located on the property of interest. Two (2) of the five (5) wells are dry holes. All wells are capped. The abandoned oil wells on site have been properly plugged below grade as per Rail Road Commission requirements. The abandoned wells are not an issue for construction of a school on this site. 

                  Soil Analysis Bores                                                                                          Abandoned Oil Wells

First and foremost, any educational facility with a total square footage in excess of 12,000 must have a fully automatic fire suppression system. In meetings with the city manager, a 10” water line is adjacent to the site and the City has agreed to extend the 10” water line to the site. A 10” water line will more than have adequate pressure and flow to service a 6” fire protection line required for the new construction.

The pre-bond estimate prepared by BTC includes $500,000 to accommodate the off -site utilities.

Gas - Atmos Energy will install a 2” line to supply gas to the property and install a meter at the property line for no charge. The btu estimates are as follows, 6,000,000btuh or 6,000cfh.

Electricity - The cost of 3 phase electrical service to a building can be an expensive proposition. For example, in Goldthwaite, this planned cost was included in the pre-bond budget at a cost of $100,000.00. The primary service provider for the site, Texas New Mexico Power (TNMP) has provided NISD with a written estimate of less than $17,000.00. A TNMP overhead distribution line is located close to the South of the proposed property. The School will be responsible for digging ditch, install 2 ea. 4” gray schedule 40 electrical conduits, one to be a spare, at a depth of 3’, installation of pull vault and installation junction cabinet, and the pouring of concrete pad for transformer. TNMP will provide Vault, Junction Cabinet, Primary Conductor and Transformer. 

Note: Cooke County Electric Cooperative does not offer services on the south end of the property where the high school will be built.

Sewer –If needed, the city will bring a new sewer service line to the proposed property, approximately 500 to 800 feet, from their existing lift station located west of the city maintenance yard on East Willow Street.

Water - The city will extend the existing 10” water line located in the RR ROW to the east with a new 6” line. That line will be available for connection as domestic supply water and fire system water for the proposed school.

Estimated cost for a 5/8 mile long road through the site to connect E. Willow with FM 1956 is approximately $600,000 using TxDOT estimated values for materials and normal availability of site work contractors for 30’ wide roadway without concrete curb and gutters. An additional $150,000 is needed for concrete curb and gutters. This road will be part of construction to facilitate two means of emergency access to the site.

The improvements will be necessary to handle the increased traffic flow for passenger cars as well as delivery vehicles, trash trucks and bus traffic.

Roads and parking lot will be asphalt with concrete paving used at bus areas. A recent bid for asphalt paving was about $5.00/SF. A bid for 5” concrete paving at Midwestern University was about $7.00/SF. Depending on the amount of concrete curb and gutter, the price may end up being close to the same.  Often times you can delete a substantial amount of curb/gutter with concrete paving, when you can’t with asphalt. Without a concrete curb/gutter on asphalt the edges will degrade very quickly.

Concrete curb/gutter poured for asphalt is about $36/LF. You won’t add that same amount for concrete paving, because the curb/gutter is poured integral. Add about $15/LF for curb/gutter poured with concrete paving.

The total number of parking spaces provided is 200 which is too many for just staff and students but does meet the general requirement of many communities of 1 parking space for 4 assembly (gym) seats.