Watershed Inc. Founder Katy Welter explains the plan for the new preschool building to the Buena Vista Board of Education. Photo by Carly Winchell.
At the Buena Vista (BV) Board of Education’s (BoE) Monday, March 18 meeting, Watershed Inc. provided an update on plans for the new BV preschool building. The plan is to convert the existing maintenance building into a southwest-style complex to house preschoolers and a few toddler rooms, which will open up childcare spaces for the community and free up more program space for Avery Parsons Elementary School. Watershed hopes to have the project completed by August 2025 for the 2025 to 2026 school year.
McGinnis Gym in 1958, with the WPA-funded sports field in the foreground. Photo courtesy of Watershed Inc.
This unique partnership follows Watershed’s involvement in the restoration of the McGinnis Gym. The discussion of the topic ended with the BoE unanimously voting to direct Superintendent Lisa Yates to work with Watershed on applying for a Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant to help fund the project.
At the Tuesday, March 26 meeting of the BV Board of Trustees (BoT), the trustees approved the mayor signing a letter of support for the DOLA grant that Watershed and the school are seeking.
Superintendent Lisa Yates described Watershed as a “powerhouse team.” Watershed founders John O’Brien, Katy Welter, and Rick Bieterman were in attendance alongside Timberline Law lawyer Erin Hunter.
Welter started the group’s presentation with an update on the gym, which should reopen in the fall of this year if all goes to plan. She then transitioned to discussing the new preschool building.
She explained the need for the preschool by highlighting the limited space currently available, with the current program operating out of two locations, and the limitations for childcare in the county. Welter said that, in northern Chaffee County, there are about five open spaces for infant childcare with an estimated 73 needed, 19 open spaces for an estimated 145 toddlers, and 175 spaces for an estimated 256 children aged three to five.
Existing facilities are undersized for the need. Not only does the elementary school needs more space, many working parents of young children are unable to afford the limited childcare that is available.
Watershed’s plan will coalesce The Grove’s two locations into one and open up more spots for children in the area. The facility itself will feature a fenced in playground and exterior access to classrooms, which saved the project approximately $500,000 by eliminating a hallway according to O’Brien.
The existing maintenance building has large garage doors that will be preserved as windows, and the Watershed team hopes to preserve the “general garage sense” of the building. As conceived, the construction staging area will become parking, the first bay will be administrative space, the second bay will be multi-purpose space (essentially a common area), and there will be three toddler rooms and six pre-K rooms.
There was some concern voiced by Board Director Paula Dylan about safety with the classrooms opening directly outside. Welter assured the board that everything will be fenced and all doors would have access control with current technology for security.
Watershed intends to complete stakeholder engagement this spring, finalize the design and begin construction this fall, and aim to have everything ready for the following school year.
As a nonprofit organization, Watershed and the school have entered into a unique partnership to accomplish this project. The land will be leased to Watershed, who will take in money to pay for the construction and own the buildings. There will be a Lease Purchase Agreement allowing the school to lease and use the buildings over the next fifteen years as it makes payments toward it’s contributions to the project. At the end of the fifteen years, the school would own the facilities again.
A part of this agreement is an option for Watershed to purchase “The Arch” property from the district valued around $1,500,000. The school also has the option to shorten the time period to reacquire the facilities more quickly.
Watershed estimates that the project will likely cost around $6,000,000. They hope to receive between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 in grant funding to cover the majority of the project with the school district supplying $2,000,000.
This entire partnership is an exercise in trust because, if those grants aren’t received or the project ends up costing more than anticipated, it is on Watershed to cover the difference.
“It’s a huge risk for us,” said O’Brien.
Both Watershed and the school will be pursuing funding for the project. If their fundraising creates an overage (exceeds the amount needed), then that funding will go to reducing the school’s $2,000,000 for the project.
BVSD is expected to pay Watershed a fee equal to five percent of all project costs, cooperate in all aspects of the project, allow Watershed the option to purchase the Arch Property for the next 15 years and pledge $2,000,000 to be paid over the term of the agreement.
In exchange, Watershed promises to construct the early childhood facility, guarantees the financial cost of the project using debt, third-party funding or organizational funds, and return any overage to the district (less a 5 percent fundraising fee that will only be paid by the district in the event there is an overage).
Some funding partners that Watershed intends to pursue are the Buell Foundation (funds of which have covered the cost of creating the current designs for the project), the State of Colorado, History Colorado, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), DOLA, the Department of Early Childhood, Department of Energy, and more.
“This is fulfilling a need in the community, a need of our schools, and we’re not asking the community to pay for it,” said Board Vice President Brett Mitchell, who thanked Watershed for making this project possible without the need to go taxpayers to fund it.
“In the long run, teachers, staff and everybody are going to breathe a little easier, because you’re going to have so much more room and so much more to work with,” said Board Director Norm Nyberg. who served on the Elementary/Preschool Campus ad hoc Committee alongside Board Director Lynn Montoya.
“They impress the daylights out of me,” said Nyberg of Watershed later in the meeting, praising their gumption and willingness to leave no stone unturned in the search for funding.
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