By: scott.huish in TopProjects 2022 September 1, 2022 2:51 pm

Location: Cloverdale Cost: $25,861,960 Start: June 2019 Completion: August 2021 Owner/Developer: Nestucca Valley School District #101 Owner’s Representative: Day CPM Architect: DLR Group Architecture & Engineering Engineers: DLR Group Architecture & Engineering (MEP), ZCS Engineering and Architecture (civil, structural) Other Associates/Consultants: 2.ink Studio (landscape architect), B.E.E. Consulting (building envelope consultant), Cascade Earth Sciences, Halliday Associates (food service) General Contractor: O’Brien & Company Submitting Company: Otak Subcontractors: A-Max Hardwood Floors, Architectural Metalcrafters, Arizona Courtlines, Baker Rock, BMS, Cascade Casework, Cascade Earth Sciences, Cole Surveying, Curtis Restaurant Equipment, Dr. Roof, DSL Builders, Encore Glass, Functional Surfacing, Inland Electric, Interior Technology, Lawson Excavation, LDC, Mckillip Drywall, Milne Masonry, NB Hardwood, Newberg Steel and Fabrication, Nor-Pac Seating, North Star Industries, Northwest Mechanical, O’Brien & Co., Olson Asphalt Maintenance, Proside Construction, RCI Architectural Sheet Metal, RK Concrete, Rubenstein’s Contract Carpet, Sandy’s Nursery & Landscaping, Shields Painting, Sierra Pacific Windows, Solid Form Fabrication, Sprinkit Fire Protection, Steve Cron Masonry, Steven W Broders, Stonhard, Terry’s Plumbing, Vaughn’s Services, Zochert Fencing

The Nestucca Valley project added 45,500 square feet to the existing 1950s-era campus, creating room to expand from K-5 to K-8 to serve 380 students. The new school features a double gymnasium, library and media center, music room, alternative education classroom, CTE “maker space,” administration and district offices, six new classrooms, a commercial kitchen and commons/cafeteria, secure-entry vestibules, individual-room VRF HVAC heating and cooling units, and a potable water filtration system. In addition, a 60,000-gallon underground water storage meets firefighting needs.

Located above the tsunami impact zone and meeting seismic codes, the new building also can serve as a community emergency center — as it already has during the Otis wildfires of summer 2021, and again when people of Neskowin were rescued from winter floods. The grass playfield provides a landing area for Coast Guard and Air National Guard helicopters.

Any school project carries considerable community expectations — and the Covid-19 pandemic produced even more challenges. But when distance learning began in March 2020, Otak started earlier and completed its work three months early and $3 million under budget. The savings enabled the district to replace a CTE program building at the high school.

In a rural setting, the only public utilities were electricity and cable internet. Septic tanks and leach fields had to be replaced and expanded. With no natural gas service, the heating system, hot water plumbing, kitchen, and emergency generator are powered by propane.

Many homes in south Tillamook County had no broadband internet, and those that did were unable to support distance-learning platforms. The district partnered with local business to install a network of radio wave towers, repeaters, and in-home hotspot units linked to the K-8 network, along with coastal towers and other points of connection. Now, internet access is available to more than 99 percent of district students at lower rates.

The Tillamook County community will benefit from this facility not only as an educational venue but as a community rallying point. And because 64 percent of the subcontractors were based within 50 miles, much of the project was reinvested in the community.

Misty Wharton, Nestucca Valley school district superintendent, wrote in her project recognition letter: “I am very proud of how this project turned out and confident it will serve the community well for the next 70+ years!”

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