Payette Lakes Middle School would have enough capacity for growth projected through 2040 under preliminary plans aired to the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission.
Last week, the McCall-Donnelly School District revealed conceptual plans for a redesigned middle school expansion that would add room for 75 more students, or 400 students total.
The plans, for which a formal application still must be submitted, are scaled back from a previous plan that was approved by the city in 2023 but has since expired. District voters approved bond funding for the work in 2021.
“Four years of delays, other associated costs, and increases in construction costs have resulted in the modifications,” M-D Superintendent Tim Thomas said.
The school district’s 2023 expansion plan totaled about 12,000 square feet, compared to about 6,800 square feet under the new plan.
“The scale back is in the number of classrooms to be added,” Thomas said. “The original plans had two additional classrooms on the east end of the building.”
What is the new plan?
The district is now proposing to add three classrooms and a new set of restrooms in a 4,900-square-foot addition that would be built on the south side of the building. The multi-purpose room, located on the north side of the building, would also be expanded by about 1,900 square feet.
In recent years, the middle school’s enrollment has hovered at 90% or more of its 325-student capacity, a problem the three new classrooms would resolve. The district previously estimated the middle school’s capacity at 400 students, but Thomas said that was inaccurate.
The expansion project also includes significant site work at the 40-acre campus, which is shared with Barbara Morgan Elementary School. The main road into the campus would be straightened out, bicycle paths would be added to the campus, and land around the eastern part of the middle school would be leveled for usable outdoor space.
The reduced scope of the expansion was noticed by the P&Z at last week’s pre-application hearing, which is required before a formal development application can be submitted.
“I know when we looked at it before there was quite a bit more involved,” Chairman Robert Lyons said.
2021 bond funding
The cost of the expansion is estimated at about $5.5 million, which is also how much is left from a $33 million bond district voters approved in 2021 to fund school improvements.
Some work at the school has already been completed using the bond money.
“The district completed parking lot and initial traffic work, remodeled the music room, office, and main entrance, and installed new lockers inside the building last summer,” Thomas said.
The bond also included about $15 million to renovate and expand Donnelly Elementary School. That work was completed in 2023. Another $10 million was used to refinance a previous bond passed by district voters.
Deinhard Lane extension impasse
Thomas, who was hired as the school district’s new superintendent in March, told Valley Lookout that resolving a years-long impasse with the city and completing the middle school expansion were among his top priorities.
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A month later, in April, M-D Operations and Maintenance Director Jason Clay told the school board that a path forward for the expansion had been identified after meetings with city officials.
The district’s original expansion plan stalled amid public roadway improvements that the district would be required to complete per the city’s approval.
One option was for the district to provide 2.9 acres of land for an extension of Deinhard Lane through the southern portion of campus.
A planning study adopted by the city in 2023 recommended the extension to improve traffic flows in southeastern McCall and to future developments east of the middle school, including Pine Creek Ranch.
The school district, however, worried the roadway could conflict with plans for the expansion and create a future safety hazard on the campus.
The city also gave the district the option of completing a traffic study and funding recommended roadway improvement, but that too was unappealing to district officials.
It is unknown what public roadway improvements, if any, may be required for the district to build the scaled-back expansion proposal. That will be at the discretion of the P&Z and the McCall City Council.
The original permit to build the middle school in 1994 required the district to provide half of the 70-foot easement sought by the city for the extension.
In 2004, however, the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission waived a requirement for the Fox Ridge Subdivision, which borders the school campus to the south, to provide the other 35 feet for the easement.
City engineers urged the easement to be a condition of approval for the subdivision, but the school district spoke in opposition to it, citing concerns about traffic and safety—the same concerns that resurfaced almost 20 years later as the district sought approval for the middle school expansion.
