LOGAN MEW
NEWS EDITOR
Since the beginning of February, students begin to notice the re- turning and growing presence of construction efforts in and around the student parking lot. This marks the start of the school’s very own Performing Arts Center. The
auditorium is planned to be built in the area where the two portables are located across U building, right by the student parking lot and entrance to the school. The 27.7 million dollar building is estimated to provide approximately 600 seats for guests watching a variety of performers onstage.
However, problems have risen as a result of the construction effort. The company in charge of the construction of the auditorium, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, was estimated to finish the project in approximately 22-24 months.
According to Principal Robin Martin, the company ideally wanted to finish the project ahead of schedule. Instead of the planned 22-24 months, Hawaiian Dredging was hoping of completing the project in 15. This resulted in the company starting the first phase of construction slightly earlier than school officials anticipated.
The problem started with the company failing to notify school officials about their start time properly. This resulted in school principal Robin Martin not being able to notify the student population on time regarding the upcoming reduction of available stalls in the student parking lot. As a result, this caught student drivers off guard when one morning approximately 35 - 40 stalls were made unavailable for the usage of student drivers.
Phase 2 of the construction process is set to begin in April. This is where students will begin to see more dramatic changes on campus, such as changes in traffic flow patterns, bus drop offs and pickups, as well as relocated portable classrooms and available stalls in the student parking lot.
“We hope that [Hawaiian Dredging] will be more up front with us in the future [regarding the construction] to avoid complications in the near future” said Mrs Martin.