While capital improvements to Jordan-Elbridge Central School District buildings and facilities are moving slower than expected, its leaders are anticipating some forward momentum by the fall.

Designs for renovations in each of the district's school buildings, particularly the high school, are being processed and should be submitted to the state Department of Education by October, Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said.

As the district waits for departmental approval, school leaders are actively working toward plans to build a stormwater retention basin and install a new septic system, both of which are part of the $21.9 million capital project voters approved in December.

Water drainage issues are pretty common at the southeast corner of the high school property, and so leaders embedded a solution in the capital project, which was first proposed in early 2008.

The district is currently in talks with three property owners to purchase a portion of their land near the high school with the intention of building a stormwater retention basin some 500 feet east of the campus.

“I'm hoping that in the next two or three weeks we'll have settled on a price and we can close certainly after that,” Dominick said.

Should that occur, architects and construction crews will conduct some roadwork and widen the creek that runs through the property to allow for quicker drainage into Skaneateles Creek.

The design phase and an appraisal of that chunk of property has slowed down the process a bit, but that is something Dominick can live with.

“It's very important to our board of education that it be a fair process,” she said, “so we've just taken a lot of care to be meeting with the property owners because these are their homes.”

The district is also awaiting approval from the state Department of Education about designs for a new underground septic system to replace the existing aboveground wastewater treatment plant. Dominick said she hopes to have the septic system installed by November.

“If that can be done before hard winter hits,” she said, “we'll all be very happy.”

In addition to the infrastructure and drainage upgrades, voters authorized the district to add spaces for a new technology and engineering curriculum as a way to introduce high school underclassmen interested in manufacturing and technology before they are eligible for the Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services as upperclassmen.

Spaces will be added at the high school for special education and physical fitness. The auditorium, kitchen and serving area, science labs and art rooms will be upgraded and administrative offices will be relocated to the front of the building. A new concession stand, restrooms and locker rooms will also be constructed.

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net