By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— Pelham City Schools released an architect’s rendering of Pelham Park Middle School Jan. 26 a day after grading work began on the site Jan. 25.

Jordan Excavating, Inc. won the $2.1 million bid for the grading and site work for the project at the Dec. 7 Board of Education meeting, and Board President Rick Rhoades said they plan to award the construction bid Feb. 25.

“We are very excited,” Rhoades said in a Jan. 26 interview. “We are anxious to get this bid in because it is going to determine to what extent we can do some other things that need to be done, particularly at the high school.”

The school’s footprint is off U.S. 31 and Ball Park Road, and the middle school is scheduled to open for the 2017-2018 school year. Rhoades said progress seems to be on track for the project.

The location of the new middle school was an obvious choice, according to Rhoades, as the City Council has plans to build a recreation center behind the school.

“I think it will be a very attractive design and fit in with everything that is going to be done in that city center,” Rhoades explained.

He said the middle school will look a different than the new Pelham Ridge Elementary School, which is scheduled to open for the 2016-2017 school year. The building will feature stacked stone design, similar to the other schools, and look less tradition that the elementary school design.

The Board of Education hopes to have the project well underway by early spring, according to Rhoades.

As construction continues on the Pelham Ridge Elementary project, Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield said Pelham City Schools will also be working on zoning for the two K-5 elementary schools.

Two informational meetings will be held for the public, presenting Coefield’s initial zoning plan. Residents can offer feedback, ask questions and address concerns.

The first meeting will be Feb. 8 and the second will be held Feb. 18. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m. at the Pelham Civic Complex.