Peak Center floods again; Fort Smith Public School officials ignore requests for info (UPDATED)

Fort Smith Public School’s Peak Innovation Center flooded again during rains that caused flooding in many Fort Smith areas Friday morning (July 14). The extent of flooding is unknown. District officials have ignored repeated requests that began Friday from Talk Business & Politics about the flooding.

Talk Business & Politics did obtain photos of the July 14 flooding inside the building, along with photos of ServPro on site at the center.

This is the fourth time flooding at Peak, a unique regional workforce education center built on a site donated to FSPS, has been made public since it opened March 28, 2022. On June 7, 2022, an historic rain event caused significant ponding in the east parking lot, which eventually led to significant water intrusion into the main level of the building. A severe thunderstorm on March 23 caused water and mud intrusion under the expansion joint between slab and footing wall in office spaces. On May 28, a common thunderstorm caused water intrusion under the same expansion joint as the March 23 event.

FSPS administration was asked multiple times through emails, calls, and text messages on Friday and Monday (July 17) for information on the flooding but has refused to provide any information or details. Talk Business & Politics reached out to FSPS Board of Education President Dalton Person Monday. He said he called Superintendent Dr. Terry Morawski concerning the lack of response.

“They are working on responding … but it is apparently taking some time to gather all the info,” Person said.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the district had not responded to any questions. Person did confirm that, while he could not speak for other board members, he was notified about the issue Friday morning and anticipated it would be brought up at Monday night’s school board meeting.

The school board voted June 21 to look into an investigation on the flooding issues at Peak. The board issued a request for qualification concerning the investigation June 24. The RFQ calls for an investigation into drainage failures at Peak Innovation Center and states that the school board is seeking a third-party review of the drainage system and recent drainage failures at the center.

UPDATED INFO
The Fort Smith Public Schools Board of Education approved a measure to fix at least part of flooding issues at Peak Innovation Center during its board meeting Monday (July 17).

Joseph Velasquez, FSPS construction manager, told the school board that the center had flooded again Friday in the same manner it had two other times this year. He requested the board approve moving forward with a solution for the existing roof drainage at Peak that would abandon under slab roof drainage with a cost not to exceed $250,000.

“At this time we have left the pipe with the hole exposed to help alleviate any further flooding. Up until this past Friday, that has worked well, but, unfortunately, because of the amount of rain we received Friday, water intruded in that area again. Because of this we are requesting approval to move forward with the HSA’s solution of abandoning that existing under slab drainage system and moving forward with an exposed system in the unfinished warehouse. We are in talks with the engineers to confirm the design will work, but at this time we are estimating it to be anywhere near $160,000 to $250,000,” Velasquez said.

He said if the actual construction cost is not within the estimated range, administration will bring information back to the board before proceeding with construction.

Velasquez said another reason to go forward with the project is that the district is unsure of the existing condition of the remainder of that pipe under the building. He noted this is why they prefer to abandon it altogether. He said the south portion of the warehouse portion of the building has exposed drainage along the roof, and the plan is to replicate that on the portion of the building where the east and west connect.

“We would abandon all the downspouts that go under the slab and go all the way to (the drainage) ditch,” Velasquez said.

The piping under the slab would be capped but not filled, he said.

This is just one project of three the district is considering to fix flooding issues. Velasquez said the district is in talks with consultants for the estimates on the other two projects – raising the east parking lot and assessing new drainage south of the office area. He said the district has had no flooding of the building from the east parking lot as happened in 2022 since the plywood left in a drainage pipe was removed.

“There is ponding in that parking lot on heavy rains. We are confirming if only raising parking and adding box culverts only in the design will work,” Velasquez said.

He also said the district is in talks with another civil engineer to determine what direction to take with the newer drainage on the south end in front of the offices and to determine the type of fittings needed at those connections and to evaluate the capacity of the collecting pipe.