GLENDALE : Additional $64,000 OKd for Classrooms

The Glendale Unified School District board this week approved an additional $64,000 appropriation for a classroom building under construction at Glendale High School, bringing the total cost overruns on the project to $450,000.

School district officials said Thursday the overruns are not unusual and the project is not in jeopardy.

The three-story classroom building was approved in 1992 and is scheduled to be completed by fall, 1995. The building, which will include science laboratories and regular classrooms, is needed to ease current overcrowding and accommodate a further increase in students as the campus converts to a four-year high school, officials said.

The school board approved the extra $64,000 to be paid to contractor C. W. Driver for the installation of video cable and modifications to the electrical system that were “inadvertently omitted” from the construction plans, said Stephen Hodgson, assistant superintendent of business services.

It was the sixth cost overrun since the contract was approved, and a seventh--a $25,000 bill for removing asbestos--is expected to go before the board next month.

Vic Pallos, a district spokesman, said unforeseen changes are common and construction projects of such magnitude typically exceed the original contract amount by about 10%.

“By comparison, this project is two-thirds of the way through, and the cost overruns are at just over 5%,” Pallos said. “And nearly half of that is the result of changes the state made in earthquake safety standards, which were imposed after the project got started and which we were required to adhere to.”

The largest single addition to the contract was approved in March, when construction crews discovered an old oil storage tank buried on the site. The school district paid the contractor $99,000 to remove the tank.

Three earthquake-related changes were made totaling $178,000, and there were additional charges of $35,000 for changes to the fire alarm system and $74,000 for computer cable.

Hodgson said the $64,000 charge approved this week also includes overtime pay. During summer school, the contractor’s access to the campus was limited and some work was done after hours, he said.