St. Francis School expansion goes to land use hearing
Sherwood's private K-8 school plans $6.5M expansion to better serve students
The City of Sherwood held a land use hearing for St. Francis School on Thursday, October 2 to review proposed changes to the school facilities and property. City approval is pending.
At the land use hearing, there were no voices in opposition. Verbal approval was granted at the end of the meeting, and official written approval is expected soon.
The St. Francis School, 15643 Oregon Street., opened in 2004 with facilities to serve up to 245 students, but began with a very small student body with only lower grades. Later, the school added one grade per year up to 8th grade. Enrollment has increased over the years to the current 218 students.
Greg Stoermer describes himself as a volunteer consultant to the church leadership team.
"In 2004, when the school was built, this particular wing that we're trying to build now was part of the original plan, at about another 8,500 square feet," Stoermer said. "We're effectively finishing the school consistent with the original plans."
The architect is Portland-based Soderstrom, who designed the existing school. The prime contractor is Molalla-based Eagle Mountain Construction.
Now, the existing facility is fully paid off and the student body has grown to overfill the space. However, the music room and art room are in small spaces in the church community hall, and the school library is split to share with the Pre-K program. Some advanced math instruction is done in the gym foyer.
"The Spanish room currently is a teacher who moves her cart to the kids, from room to room," Stoermer said.
The expanded building design is planned for about 7,800 square feet to include five new rooms: Pre-K, science, art, music, and Spanish. Plans also include a contained courtyard and a secure Pre-K playground.
The current school building is up to modern code, but the church community hall used as the school cafeteria will undergo some fire code updates according to the new plan. Also, transformers on the property will be improved to handle the additional power requirements.
Stoermer says that during the contractor selection process, two things were impressive about Eagle Mountain. During the economic difficulties of Covid-19, Eagle Mountain remained dedicated to their employees, continuing pay even with extremely low company income. Additionally, when a project bid is made they stick to it, and provide visibility on subcontractor work.
In accordance with all plans, student body will remain capped at 245. The new facilities will not affect tuition because the expansion is planned to be entirely funded by donations.
Stoermer says that the construction will take about one year from groundbreaking, which was originally slated for May 2026.
That schedule is now off the table because the funding is not in place. Once the funding is either in the bank or pledged, then the school will apply for a loan from the Archdiocese. Once the loan is approved, that will trigger nine months of permitting prior to groundbreaking.
The entire project, including permitting, infrastructure, landscaping, hardscaping, and the new building, is budgeted at $6.5 million. The funding is continuously growing, and the parish has currently raised $1.2 million.
According to Stoermer, the bids may have to increase with extended project start delays.
Stoermer make tax deductible contributions to the project.
For those who are taking their required minimum distribution (RMD) from retirement savings, a contribution directly from that fund can be counted as part of the RMD and also be excluded from income tax. For people who are not yet taking RMD but have investment funds, transfers directly to the school are excluded from taxes on capital gains.
"We do not discriminate," Stoermer said. "We will accept donations from anybody."
Bibliography:
St. Francis School: https://stfrancissherwoodschool.org/
St Francis Capital Campaign: https://stfrancissherwood.org/our-capital-campaign
Eagle Mountain Construction Inc.
