Will the public like Ike's new design?

YAKIMA, Wash. -- After a lot of talk and speculation, preliminary plans for the new Eisenhower High School were unveiled at a community forum Monday night.

"Tonight, we were actually looking at something that had shape and form and substance," said Yakima School District Superintendent Elaine Beraza. "It's great. It's exciting."

A mixture of 30 educators, parents and neighbors attended the meeting at the district's central office. It was hosted by principal architects Steve McNutt and Keith Comes with NAC Architecture in Spokane.

They shared numerous schematic drawings of what the new high school may look like. The project will be funded through a 20-year, $114 million bond measure that was approved by taxpayers last May. The Yakima school board will review the schematic design later today.

The drawings showed an L-shaped, 290,000-square-foot structure bordering Tieton Drive and 44th Avenue. About 500 to 600 parking spaces were created, with event and student parking along Tieton and staff parking along Arlington Street and 44th Avenue.

Consisting of two floors, a glass-enclosed library sits atop the administration offices near the corner of Tieton and 44th. The science department is stacked above the vocational classes in the east wing, and classrooms surround a central courtyard where students can mingle and eat lunch.

The exterior facade is broken into smaller segments so as not to look like a fortress, Comes said, and seating for about 2,500 people is being proposed for the gym -- which will include four practice courts and two competitive courts.

For the theater, there's seating for 800 people -- three to four times the number Ike now offers.

The high school will accommodate a maximum of 2,400 students -- an increase of 500 over current enrollment. It will also include 70,000 square feet of additional space, with the typical classroom averaging 900 square feet.

"If you outgrow this school, you'll need to start seriously thinking about building another school," McNutt said.

McNutt said many elements were considered in drafting the school's design, including staff parking, bus loading, traffic and space for athletic fields. Another factor was keeping Zaepfel Stadium intact, since replacing it would cost $8 million to $9 million.

Overall, people at the meeting approved of the proposal.

"I thought they did a really good job," said Toni Ivy, whose 6-year-old daughter is likely to attend the school one day. "I like the way they thought of the traffic and event parking. There's a lot of extra space for clubs to meet. ... They thought it out well."

David Hartwig agreed. He was involved in a committee that promoted the bond, and he wants the school's design to fit the community.

"I'm really impressed," said Hartwig, whose son is a senior at Davis High School. "From listening to them, it was pretty thorough."

Now that a schematic design has been created, the architecture team will focus on design development: details related to ventilation, furniture placement, colors and the like. Once that's decided, drawings will be drafted for the contractor, the project will go out to bid and construction will begin.

The planning process will take two years. The building will be replaced by the start of the 2013 school year.

NAC Architecture -- along with KDF Architecture Inc. of Yakima -- is providing design and engineering services for the Ike replacement.

Funds from the $114 million bond measure will also be used to modernize Davis High School and renovate six other schools: Discovery Lab; Garfield, Hoover, McKinley and Nob Hill elementary schools; and Stanton Academy, the district's alternative high school.

* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com