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VIENNA -- Vienna City Council heard a presentation regarding a potential location for the combined Vienna and Neale Elementary schools at last Thursday's meeting.
Christie Willis, Superintendent of Wood County Schools, spoke to the council about the location of a new Vienna elementary school. She said the original plan was to build a new school near the current site of Vienna Elementary on 41st Street, but another property has caught their interest.
"There is a property off of Rosemar Road where the current recreation center is located behind the ballfields, which would be a prime location for a new school," she said.
Willis said of the three new schools Wood County Schools is building, Vienna Elementary would be the largest, with a capacity of 670 students. The Rosemar Road property measures at 11 acres. The space will allow for the combination of Vienna and Neale elementaries, she said.
Willis said she was asking for authorization for Pickering Associates to perform a due diligence study, which would determine if this property would be viable to place an elementary school.
"The first thing we will do is a topographical survey," Ryan Taylor, Pickering Associates CEO, said. "We will study the topography to understand how much it would cost to grade and make this area ready for building a school. The school is roughly going to be close to 70,000 square feet. We will use a lot of that area."
Taylor said Pickering Associates would study the environment to see if any materials were previously used that could cause issues. They will also do an archeological study.
"We are looking for things like primitive campsites, things that the state of West Virginia would say we shouldn't build on," he said. "That will entail digging about 700 little holes around the property looking for arrowheads, trinkets and things like that."
The final two aspects of the study include a subsurface investigation, which drills into the ground and determines what types of materials are present and their conditions, and a traffic study to evaluate the traffic patterns in the area. The study would take approximately two months.
Taylor said Pickering Associates did a similar study for the new Lubeck school. He would like to start immediately if approved. He also said he would not interfere with the existing ballfields.
"As a former T-ball coach, I don't want to wreck someone's T-ball field," he said. "We will work around your T-ball fields."
Taylor said once the study is completed, Wood County Schools would vote to accept the study and Willis would come back to the council for further discussion.
Mayor Randy Rapp asked City Attorney Russell Skogstad if a council vote to start the due diligence study was necessary. Skogstad replied it was not since this would be an administrative function, not a transfer of property. Rapp said he would sign the letter authorizing Pickering Associates to begin the study.
The council also approved an ordinance on second reading to implement a Deferred Retirement Optional Plan for the Vienna Police Department. The DROP plan allows an employee to receive retirement benefits while still working. An employee can participate from one to five years and it must be completed when they reach age 65.
Kristen Hainkel can be reached at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com