District Proposed Plan
Temporary Campus – The temporary portables are estimated to cost $15M and will be bordered on one side by a large demolition and construction site, on another side by the smelly sewage treatment plant, and on the two remaining sides by drainage channels that are prone to chronic flooding and which are the subject of an existing Notice of Violation for exposed hazardous dump materials. Just what every parent looks for in a school, right?!
Permanent Campus – The current MVMS will be demolished, and a new permanent building will be constructed on top of roughly that same area with a projected overall budget: $130M Hard Cost + $60M Soft Cost + $20M Hard & Soft Cost for Modernizations = $210M ($7M budgeted to to remove toxic soils) out of the total $194M bonds. See page 10 of the February 7, 2024 Board Meeting. The full plan is further counting on $20M of state funding from proposition 51 that is not currently available.
You can see the proximity of the construction site and temporary campus in the aerial image.
Financial planning to date indicates ~$36 million shortfall - maybe more?
Since passing the Bond, the District has learned of significant issues with the current site from a budget, environmental risk, and permitting standpoint. Despite this, it has:
Already spent or committed over $4.3M to the current Middle School site plan as was disclosed during the June 17, 2024 Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) meeting (pg. 48). There has still been no annual audit done by the CBOC or detailed disclosure on where these funds were committed.
Decided to pursue a risky construction site without the necessary funds. The projected overall budget for the current plan is: $130M Hard Cost + $60M Soft Cost + $20M Hard & Soft Cost for Modernizations = $210M ($7M budgeted to to remove toxic soils) out of the total $194M bonds intended to support the middle school AND five elementary school modernizations (See page 10 of the February 7, 2024 Board Meeting). The full plan is further counting on $20M of state funding from proposition 51 that is unlikely to be available due to CA budget cutting measures and the District only points to further needed value engineering (see page 51-55 of the June 17, CBOC meeting). The Mill Valley taxpayers and bond rating could be severely impacted if the project runs over budget or has trouble finding insurance with all the potential liabilities at the site.