Palmerton Area School District could embark on a $21 million districtwide renovation project.

A huge component of that would entail a junior high school expansion for $13 million, based on figures shared at a workshop session of Palmerton Area School Board on Tuesday.Michael Kelly, an architect with KCBA Architects of Hatfield, said the junior high expansion would include a cafeteria and kitchen, a media center and television studio, new computer space, a series of offices, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.Junior high school cafeteriaThe project would establish a cafeteria for the junior high school.At present, the district runs grades seven through 12 lunches in its high school cafeteria, as the junior high does not have its own cafeteria, which limits the district's options because of scheduling.The feasibility study was required to add a cafeteria to the junior high school.Benefits to adding a cafeteria at the junior high are that it would allow the high school to consider other scheduling options, and ensure that the junior high would no longer be reliant on the high school to use its cafeteria."Right now, it's all block schedule," said Paula Husar, high school principal. "Our schedule can't really change that much because you have to feed the junior high (students)."Husar added, "We want all of our kids to succeed. Right now, a major constraint is getting all those kids fed in the cafeteria."Director Susan Debski said that while she understands, the district needs to have the tax base to afford such a project.Superintendent Scot Engler said that the district has taken its tax base into account."We've already started preparing for this when we put money in the capital fund," Engler said.Multipurposeturf fieldThe project would also include the creation of a $2.4 million multipurpose turf field.In August, a concept by the district to add the multipurpose turf field appeared to have been pushed to the sidelines after discussion with representatives from Barry Isett & Associates of Allentown.That came after the board last April voted 6-3 to have the firm complete a site feasibility study for a potential multipurpose field located at the current football field and track site at the high school stadium.The study, at an anticipated cost of $10,000, provided a full proposal for the construction of the new multipurpose field, complete with budget and financial estimates.Kevin Markell, of Barry Isett & Associates, estimated at that time that the approval process for the field could take between seven to 10 months, and added the district may have to increase parking if it would not be successful in its quest to obtain variances.Markell also said bleachers would have to be added, and stormwater issues would have to be addressed.In early April, Director Chuck Myers recommended that the district set aside $1.5 million and engage Isett about the potential all-weather football field and all-weather track. Myers said at that time the field would be for all sports, not just football.HVAC improvementsThe remainder of the project would install chillers and replace unit vent heaters at the high school, Towamensing Elementary School, and S.S. Palmer Elementary, and call for safety and security improvements districtwide.In February, the board was told by Christopher Campbell, project manager at Barry Isett & Associates, about a project to install chillers and replace unit vent heaters at the three buildings.Campbell said at that time the cost to install a chiller and perform electrical upgrades to the high school and junior high school complex would run the district about $2.3 million; the cost to do similar work at S.S. Palmer would be about $1.9 million; and the work at Towamensing Elementary would check in at about $800,000.Campbell said installing chillers at all three buildings would be the most economically sound choice the district could make.Chillers usually last anywhere from 20 to 30 years on average, he said.TimelineKelly then presented an anticipated timeline for the project.He said the design would be from July through November; construction documents would be from December 2015 through February 2016; the bidding award would occur between March-April 2016. Construction would be in June/July 2017.The districtwide renovation project is part of the district's long-range facilities plan.In November, the board approved the transfer of $3 million from the district's general fund to its capital reserve fund.That action came after Engler reviewed the facilities and future district plans with school directors at a board workshop session held earlier that month.At that time he said the list of improvements were conceived through input from the community, faculty, administration, school board and the students.Also in November, the board approved an HVAC study to be conducted by Barry Isett & Associates, at a cost of $7,400.Engler said the money for that study would come out of the district director of facilities budget.Based on the input from the district's capital adviser, Engler said the district could recognize savings by refinancing its 2010 A bond.The financial goal, he said, is for the district to maintain its current debt service or possibly reduce it, Engler said.