MOORHEAD — The school district here is gearing up for major changes to the high school that are better described as an overhaul than a renovation.

If Moorhead Area Public Schools successfully passes a $110 million bond this November, the only existing buildings that will remain after construction would be the Moorhead Sports Center and field house. Everything else would be razed and replaced with new space to accommodate more students.

Most of the existing high school — originally built in 1966 — would be replaced with a performing arts center and parking lots along the west and south of the new high school, according to developing design concepts.

School board members approved changes to the design at its meeting Tuesday, May 28, though there is a potential for plans to evolve more. Changes include relocating the pool to the south of the sports center, moving the main academic space to the east to create more parking, providing commons space for athletic fields to the east, flipping theater and music classrooms, and creating a separate entrance for the theater shared with the main commons area.

Superintendent Brandon Lunak said approving the design changes was another step in the process leading up to a possible ballot referendum this fall to vote on the project.

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"This is the beginning of that work, so we know what to present to the community," Lunak said. "Each phase that we get to drills down the design a little bit more and makes it a little bit more real."

Lunak admits that describing the project as a renovation is a bit of an understatement.

"As it is right now, a lot is going to change," he said. "Even though we're building a new facility, we're going to build it around the sports center and field house."

Lunak said while design elements continue to evolve, the school district knows the square footage and budget. That's all based on community feedback from a survey conducted last year that gauged the property tax increase residents would support. About 54 percent were OK with $110 per year, based on the average home value of $200,000, Lunak said, which equates to the $110 million.

Plans included overhauling the high school to make room for 2,400 students on an expanded site of 340,000 to 400,000 square feet. The existing site is 335,385 square feet with a capacity of 1,800 students. Enrollment this year is 1,756.

The most recent construction work at the high school happened in 2004 with additions of the field house and ninth-grade center. Lunak said the last time the district went out for a bond was in 2015 to address K-8 projects. Voters passed the $78 million bond to support construction of Dorothy Dodds Elementary School, Horizon Middle School and district-wide renovations to improve secure entrances.

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Last fall, the district created a task force of community members and school officials to kick off the design conceptualization process. That four-month process resulted in a recommendation to replace the high school on the existing site and create a career and tech academy.

In February, the school board accepted the recommendation and initiated another series of community brainstorming sessions to begin planning what the new high school would look like.

Lunak said bond proceeds would pay for the high school project as well as the career academy, which will be located in the former Sam's Club once it is remodeled. The academy could be up and running a year before the high school project wraps up, he added, but academy programming is still being hashed out.

Brian Berg of Zerr Berg Architects said the "exact scope of the project is yet to be determined," but the firm has a general understanding of the building area at the high school site. "It's a project that requires a lot of thought," he said.

The number of classrooms, their sizes and configurations have yet to be determined, for example. "There's going to be a natural tightening of the plan as we start to put more detail into it," Berg said.

Originally, Berg said construction would be south of the high school, but that has flipped. Architects and task force members decided the best plan would involve building to the north, in the existing parking lot. He said construction would occur in phases, with 100 percent of academic areas and the main core of the school (gym, commons and kitchen) being built before tearing down the existing high school to minimize disruption.

The new theater, with its own lobby, and administrative space would be part of the second phase once the existing high school is razed.

"About 80 to 85 percent of this facility can be constructed while class is going on in the current facility," Lunak said. "When the 85 percent is done, we'll transfer to the new facility and tear down the old one and build the performing arts center and administrative space and locker rooms east to administrative space. We'll be able to do that all while school is in session, and we will hopefully have very little disruption of school while its going on."

Benefits of the new high school, Lunak said, are a commons area that is handicap accessible as well as more secured access to the school. Elevators would be included in the academic area, which consists of three stories with four wings.

Lunak said the design concept also shows space for a potential outdoor splash pad and additional athletics field to the east of the new high school and south of the existing football field. However, the pool and field are not included in the school district's plans.

"If we were to enter into an agreement with the city to put in the splash pad, there is a possibility for that," he said, adding that hasn't been discussed beyond what is shown if concept designs.