The designs for a new elementary school in Stansbury Park will be influenced by its name and proximity to the Benson Gristmill, according to Tooele County School District construction coordinator Steve West.
The floor plan, elevations and site plan for Old Mill Elementary School were presented by West to the Stansbury Park Service Agency during its meeting Wednesday night. West said the school district will use the same footprint and design as Grantsville Elementary School at the Brigham Road location in Stansbury Park.
Functional differences between the new elementary school and Grantsville Elementary School are limited, but the new building will have a security door at the front entrance, West said.
“(There’s) really not a lot of changes inside, it’s pretty much the same,” he said. “We’re pretty comfortable with that design.”
Plans for Sterling Elementary School in Tooele will also follow the example of Grantsville Elementary and Rose Springs Elementary School, West said.
Where the school will stand apart from its counterpart is on its exterior features. West said Old Mill Elementary School will have canopies over its doorways that look like half a water wheel with blue material on top of the canopy to represent water.
The exterior of the school building will also feature sections of simulated wood and LED lights that look like lanterns to align with the rest of the facade.
“It will kind of give it a little bit of an older feel and kind of blend in with that Old Mill theme,” West said.
With the classrooms flaring out from the front of the school in three wings, there will be two small courtyards created behind the school that can be used as outdoor classrooms.
“Teachers can take the kids out during the day and do some instruction outside and get them out of the building, get a little fresh air,” West said.
The courtyards, as well as the rest of the property, will be ringed with chain-link fence to help keep students secure, he said.
Stansbury Park Service Agency board member Mike Johnson asked West what impact the additional school would have on the district’s overcrowding difficulties.
The new elementary school is expected to house 850 students. Once all three Stansbury Park elementary schools are open, each of the buildings should be between 60 and 70 percent of capacity, West said.
Old Mill Elementary School should also shift students traveling from Stansbury Park to Tooele back closer to home, according to West. The new elementary school is expected to open in the fall of 2017.
“That’s really our goal,” he said. “We want to get the students that are being bussed to Tooele back toward Stansbury.”
The new elementary school will be tight on open space behind the building. West said the property was purchased at the same time as the parcel for Rose Springs Elementary School and the plans at the time called for a less significant footprint.
“At that time we were building a smaller school so it fit very well,” he said.
Old Mill and Sterling elementary schools will be funded through the school district’s $49 million bond, which was approved by Tooele County voters last November. The bulk of those funds, $33 million, will go toward the elementary schools, with $4 million to acquire property for a future junior high school and high school.
On Feb. 11, the Tooele County School Board approved purchasing 55.91 acres west of Home Depot, between 2000 North and 2400 North for an eventual fourth high school in the district. West said the school district is looking for a 20-acre lot for a junior high site near Stansbury Park.