School getting new parking lot

Edgerton School is getting a new parking lot this summer.

The old lot at the elementary school has been ripped out and workers will pave a new lot over the next several weeks. The parking lot’s flow may change slightly but will be “in the same footprint,” Kalispell Superintendent Darlene Schottle said.

The $327,000 project is being funded by Kalispell Public Schools’ elementary building reserve money and district transportation dollars, she said.

The parking lot hadn’t been redone for about 25 years and was full of potholes, she said. Repaving the lot was one of the major projects on the district’s list when voters approved the $2.8 million elementary building reserve levy in 2009.

“We saved two years to do it,” Schottle said.

The project is expensive because the district owns the entire expanse of the lot, from the school to Whitefish Stage Road.

“It’s not a county or city access road. It belongs to the school district,” Schottle said.

Crews from Bigfork-based Apex Contracting started working on the parking lot on Tuesday and should finish in about five weeks.

“The plan is to be done the week before school gets in. Aug. 15 is the drop-dead date,” she said. “We’re hoping things go well and the weather helps us.”