Valley’s geology costs district

The discovery of several caverns and a fault line has shaken up the Clark County School District's budget for a yet-to-be built school in eastern Las Vegas, increasing construction costs by about $7 million.

The East Career and Technical Academy is slated to open in the fall of 2009, but the school's design had to be revamped, and three buildings will be constructed on different locations than planned. The fault line was found in May, and several caverns were found in June under where the school's gymnasium was going to be built.

Although a district official said the project will be salvaged and still might open on time, construction costs will rise between $6 million and $7 million more than anticipated, boosting the project up to about $82 million.

"It seemed like every day we turned around, we found another void in the ground that we would have to deal with," said Paul Gerner, the district's associate superintendent of the Facilities Division. "But we moved ahead pretty briskly on this thing, and it looks like we'll be able to get the project started on time."

The school will be at 6705 Vegas Valley Drive, near Hollywood Boulevard.

Gerner said district officials knew they were building the school near a fault line discovered by geologists in the 1960s but did not know about the second fault line. A crack leading to the unknown fault was found about 40 feet underground and measured about 6 inches wide and between 12 and 18 inches long.

Geologists hired by the district estimated the newly discovered fault line to be 400,000 years old, Gerner said. The caverns were discovered when the district was doing flood testing. A hole was found between 30 and 40 feet underground where water was draining, leading to several small caverns.

The caverns have been collapsed or filled with grout, Gerner said. He added that the $7 million was spent by the district to dig into the ground, test it and then solidify the ground where the three buildings were going to be built.

There also were costs in identifying the caverns and fault lines. The additional work needed to open the school on time is also a factor in the higher price tag, Gerner said.

He said the district already had invested $30 million in building the school before the unknown fault line was discovered.

Gerner said he thinks the project represents the first time the district has built a school near a fault line.

The fault line district officials knew about was on the southern edge of the 40-acre site. The school's facilities total 210,000 square feet, and the three buildings will be adjusted to avoid the previously unknown fault line, Gerner said.

Engineering practices discourage construction across fault lines, Gerner said. He said the school district largely follows county codes and engineering practices that determine how close buildings can be constructed near the lines. Still, the district is not obligated to do so, said Ron Lynn, director of Clark County's Development Services department.

School officials think the actions they are taking in rebuilding will make the facility safe.

The East Career and Technical Academy is one of five such specialty high schools that will open throughout Southern Nevada by the 2009-10 school year. The schools will focus on specialized careers in fields such as computers, engineering, media and medicine. The first high school will open at the end of the month in the northwest valley.

Superintendent Walt Rulffes said the setbacks to the school's construction are "unfortunate, unanticipated and undetectable." Rulffes said the school is "desperately needed" because it's in an area of Las Vegas where the district has a difficult time finding land.

The district obtained the land free from the Bureau of Land Management.

"We don't have an alternative site," Rulffes said. "I'm confident this is the lowest-cost option to contend with."

Gerner said the district probably still would have built the school with the additional $7 million cost had it known about the unknown fault line and caverns on the site.

Catherine Snelson, an assistant professor of geophysics at UNLV, said at least eight active faults exist in Southern Nevada. Snelson said many fault lines are detected when construction occurs near them.

Snelson said the fault found on the district's property is probably connected to one of two known faults in the area, one of which has been estimated to have a capability to produce an earthquake with a magnitude of 7. The two faults might be on one large fault, but researchers are not sure.

She added that it's fortunate the district detected the unknown fault line.

"They found it and took action," she said. "That means everything is working the way it should."