Windows required for play area

A covered play area with windows?

One might imagine some problems resulting with balls and children flying about, but that’s what’s coming to Coupeville.

One of the final projects Coupeville School District officials hope to complete with the bond dollars voters approved several years ago is a covered play area at the elementary school. It’s long been a community desire to provide a safe, dry, place for children to play during windy and rainy days.

Costs for the new covered play area have increased due to meeting requirements by the town of Coupeville. Schools Superintendent Patty Page said the original aesthetic of a solid brick wall facing Highway 20 didn’t pass muster with Coupeville’s Design Review Board.

Instead, the school district has been required to add in a row of safety glass windows on the brick wall, which increases the cost of the structure by $26,000.

“It turns out the brick is less expensive then the windows,” Page said after Monday’s Coupeville School Board meeting.

Plans call for placing the windows at the top of the 12-foot wall. The windows themselves are five feet in height.

The superintendent said the construction manager and architect have said the new glass can be incorporated into the project safely.

The covered play area is part of a $400,000 project that also includes renovating the entrance and front offices of the school in order to make them more secure. She said it was more affordable to package the two projects together.

Page couldn’t give a date on when the projects will be complete. She said the school district has to go before the Design Review Board to get its final approval for the covered play area. A special meeting of the design board is set for Tuesday, July 29, to consider the school district’s project.

Contact Whidbey News Times Staff reporter Nathan Whalen at nwhalen@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5058.

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