Park City School District sets Sept. 22 for Treasure Mountain demolition

Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City School District projects are moving forward on schedule, with demolition at Treasure Mountain Junior High set to begin Sept. 22, according to a facilities update presented to the Board of Education Tuesday night.

“Originally, we had targeted the demolition for the 15th,” said JD Simmons, senior project manager with MOCA. “Right now, we are targeting Monday. Most utilities are off over there. The last one really is the power.”

Simmons said the demolition will bring the site down to the slab, with the possibility of leaving the concrete pad in place through the winter, depending on the weather. “If the weather is good, we would take the slab out, but we don’t want to deal with the contamination, the mud while it’s wet,” he said.

The turf field for the new Treasure Mountain Sports Complex is on schedule for completion in mid-October. “You can see the fencing, the walls, and a big pile of stuff,” Simmons said. “That’s the final base before the turf goes down.”

Excavation work recently uncovered unexpected peat layers, mixed with railroad ties and decomposed materials, requiring a revised soils management plan. “We weren’t expecting that,” Simmons said. “We can’t build on it, which means we have to over-excavate it and then put in a structure and bring it back up.” He noted that testing so far has shown the material to be mostly clean.

Board Vice President Nicholas Hill pressed Simmons on that point, asking about his description of the soils as “mostly clean.”

“For the most part, yes,” Simmons responded. “We had a couple that have tested, that have very low limits—where it doesn’t fall into the category of contaminated, or where it would have to be hauled off to a special facility. It’s been below that. So everything is tested as we go.”

Simmons said the district’s environmental monitor is on site daily, sampling soils and air. The state Division of Air Quality requires ongoing monitoring as part of the demolition permit. If contamination above the thresholds is found, Simmons said, the district would follow guidance from the Department of Environmental Quality.

Air quality and dust control remain a priority during demolition. “They’ll probably have water cannons there going—it’ll keep all the dust down,” Simmons said.

Other district updates included work at Park City High School, where new video and photo labs are nearing completion. “Turnover for one of them could probably be as early as the end of this week,” Simmons said, adding that flooring and electrical work delayed the timeline slightly.
Elementary school projects are also progressing smoothly, Simmons said, with final touches being applied to light poles, HVAC balancing, and generator enclosures.

“Everything’s looking pretty good,” Simmons told the board.