'Unforeseen' Issues Up Lyons Township High's Project Costs: Officials

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School is giving a contractor another $87,000 for a major South Campus project because of what officials consider "unforeseen circumstances."

In a project that started a year ago, Waukegan-based Happ Builders is building a new cafeteria and converting the old one into a music department.

On Monday, the school board approved a change order to increase the total cost to $30.6 million. One of the issues is an unlevel floor, according to the school.

Under the contract, a $250,000 allowance for unforeseen issues was already built in, but it's been used.

At the board meeting, Brian Stachacz, the school's top finance official, said he expected more change orders. One of them may be for a potentially blocked or collapsed sewer pipe underneath the area of construction, he said.

Board member Kari Dillon said the change orders were "not great news."

"I'm concerned going forward, keeping in line from where we are and hoping that we're getting close to wrapping it up," she said. "But plumbing is expensive."

Board member Elias Lopez questioned why the problems weren't caught beforehand, referring to the situation as "hidden costs."

He cast a rare dissenting vote against the change order.

Patch left a message with the school about when it expects the contractor to finish the work.