Construction starts on Vocational Building
By Jerry W. Kram
The landscape is changing between East Central and West Central Avenues in New Town. The bus barns that were a long time fixture north of the New Town High School disappeared quickly after Memorial Day and site preparation is underway for the construction of a new Vocational Education building to rise up in its place.
The bus barns will be rebuilt on a 10 acre development the district owns west of North Dakota Highway 1804. The district also plans on adding new teacher housing on the site in 2016.
The building will replace the old Vo-Ag building on Main Street, which would have needed millions of dollars of work to bring it into compliance with new building codes.
New Town School District Superintendent Marc Bluestone described the progress of the project for the school board at its regular meeting Tuesday. Bluestone said the only holdup in the project at present is a electrical power pole was inadvertently installed on school property last year and will have to be moved before site work can continue. He said Mountrail-Williams Electrical Cooperative and the contractor and architect were working out the detail of getting the pole moved.
