A long-delayed desire to teach construction students how to build a house got an assist from an unlikely source, the performing arts.
Staff at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center offered a win-win suggestion to allow construction trades students to work on a house project this winter.
Instead of starting from scratch and building a new house, why not remodel a house the Bowlus owns but wants to move so it can use the space for a new parking lot?
The district has long wanted to build a house as part of the construction class at the Regional Rural Technology Center at LaHarpe, but the project continually hit snags. Neosho County Community College took over the project this year with a goal to make that dream become reality.
It’s been a slow start though, and leaders are concerned it would not be possible to pour a concrete foundation and complete enough of the project before winter weather interrupted.
A remodel project would solve the problem and teach construction students useful skills, school board president Dan Willis said. Most students who enter the construction field likely would find themselves working on remodel projects more often than new home construction, Willis said.
The Bowlus likely would transfer the house to the district at a minimum cost of $1, director Dan Kays told the board. The Bowlus would take respsonsibility of removing two trees and capping sewers.
Veterans Worldwide, a group hired by the EPA to remediate contaminated soil throughout the city, has the property on its list but agreed to wait until the house is moved. Instead of sod, the group would prepare the ground for construction suitable for a parking lot.
The district would be responsible for moving the house from its current location at 210 S. Buckeye St. to two empty lots west of Iola Middle School. Maintenance director Aaron Cole received two bids, one for $27,000 and an anticipated move date in February, and another for $20,000 with an anticipated move date in late December or early January.
The house is two stories and about 36 by 30 feet.
Board members, though, were hesitant to approve the expense until they know more about other associated costs.
They asked Cole to obtain more estimates about what it might cost to remodel the house, and would consider the matter in two weeks when they meet again.
