The price tag on an elementary school under construction in Lexington, Ky., has gone up $1.2 million after debris that covers an area about the size of a football field was found underground on the site.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that two weeks into the work at the site on Athens-Boonesboro Road, the contractor found construction debris buried over a large portion of what will be the main parking lot and front lawn of the as yet unnamed school.
Fayette County district administrators now estimates the cost of building the school will be $24.9 million.
Workers began construction in April on the 80,000-square-foot site, which will serve 750 students. It is set to to open next year.
“The design team, the contractor, and the project geotechnical engineer immediately went to work to determine the extent of the debris and the effect this undesirable material would have on preparing foundation and pavements,” district documents say.
“The pre-purchase geotechnical and environmental surveys conducted on the district’s behalf detected only minor surface debris, visible in a couple of small piles. There was no indication that the area of debris was as large as a football field or that the depth of the buried material extended down as much as 10 feet below the surface."
In order to keep the project on schedule, the contractor has been told that the debris should be removed as it is encountered throughout the construction process.
