GSD Future

Long-Term Capital Outlook and Planning

Project Updates, Skyline ·

Skyline High School Final Anticipated Site Layout

After over 9 months of working with the greater Millcreek community, evaluating over 3,000 comments from a community survey, conducting an extensive traffic study and working closely with the Skyline High Community Council, the District is pleased to release a site layout for the new Skyline High School.

This is a final product of over 40 different layouts that the design team evaluated based on the significant site limitations present that make this rebuild a challenge. We recognize that there is never a perfect product that meets everyone’s expectations, but hope that our community will recognize the tremendous effort that was made to listen to and implement the feedback that was provided.

While interior design work will continue, we expect that Phase 1 will begin in the next few weeks. We will post an anticipated construction time line as soon as that has been finalized.

Thanks for your patience and support as we continue to work to develop and construct a 21st Century High School that will help our students prepare for college and/or a career and be an ongoing asset to this community.

Site Limitations:

  • Small campus of just over 40 acres. We prefer campus size to be around 60 acres on a rebuild to be able to maintain the current building for use while the new facility is under construction. This saves taxpayers money.
  • A multi-phase rebuild schedule will be used so that students are not displaced and can safely attend school while the new building is constructed. You can see the current buildings on the layout are the shaded portions. We anticipate posting an animated description of these construction phases in the coming weeks.
  • Elevation changes are significant from the East to West of this campus.
  • Metro Water has a large pipeline that runs North to South just East (marked with dashes on the image) of the current stadium and classroom building. This is their property and we are unable to construct permanent structures on that section of the campus.
  • Adjusting the necessary amount of parking to accommodate and enhance traffic patterns in the neighboring area.

Please look for additional information in the coming weeks regarding the construction timeline.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • I am sorry your are disappointed. Please email us with your specific concerns and we would be happy to address them in detail.

  4. We can’t wait to see the renderings of the building. The layout looks great. And the parking entrances look more spread out for better access. Thanks for your work on this.

  5. Thank you for working so closely with all of the stakeholders!!
    What is the projected square footage of classroom space in the new building compared to the existing building? We currently have ~2,000 students. What size student body is the new building projected to accommodate (max)?

    • Current population is a little over 2,000 students a number of which are special permits from both within and without Granite School District. Original designs were considered about 2,400 students since we know from past history that new buildings attract more students. That being said, we have budget considerations that are part of these design discussions and we ultimately have to build a building that meets the communities needs and fits within the budget.

  6. The new layout looks amazing! I do however have major concerns with the current parking set. It looks like there are a couple parking options. However the parking lots that hold 115+64+288 = 467 all exit to the frontage road. The lot that has 182 stalls exits to the street just south of the school. I think having 467 cars exiting out on the frontage road will have a bottleneck effect. Also, it will be frustrating for those exiting to get on the 3800 south road and drivers will then choose to go north on the frontage road into the neighborhood. We live in that neighborhood and it already has high traffic before school, during lunch, and after school. The new parking lot layout the way it is set up now will increase traffic in our neighborhood. As you know, we do not have sidewalks in the neighborhood and this is an increased safety concern. Could the parking lot that hold 115 and 64 stalls be connected to the parking lot that has 182 stalls? That would split up the number of cars entering and exiting. That will have 361 stalls and the other will have 288 stalls or cars exiting which will split up the congestion. Hopefully this would be a minor change in the construction and planning process that would result in a safer outcome for all students, children, and the neighborhood north of Skyline. Thank you for everyones hard work on this amazing project!

    • This is a legitimate concern and I would simply respond that we have done a comprehensive traffic study that this site layout is based off of that should actually reduce traffic on Upland and into the North neighborhood. This will be done in coordination with a new intersection layout and design on Upland and the Frontage Road (in conjunction with Millcreek City). We share these concerns and this layout should go far in addressing them.

  8. I am concerned about the apparent lack of security around the building which is aggravated by parking lots on three sides of the building, as well as the reduced capacity student parking stalls. The small student parking at the side of seminary building has a planning layout that is difficult for inexperienced drivers and not efficiently laid out, particularly in regards to limited student parking. The lot designs encourage curb side parking that would then need to be monitored. Also concerned about access for emergency vehicles. Design does not address safety concerns about the gully. Would also like to understand any sustainable building opportunities- the building is the worst orientation possible for natural daylighting..

    • Thanks for your thoughtful comments. We are utilizing the Department of Defense security guidance (which can also be found on this website). Due to the extremely small site (about half of what normal high school sites are) with the need to rebuild while the current school is functioning, necessitates the parking being spread out to different portions of the site. Additionally, our independent traffic safety engineers found that it helped to reduce traffic choke points as well as reducing traffic on Upland which is one of our priorities. This site actually has a few more parking spots than the current site. The parking to the side of the seminary is due to significant elevation challenges on the site. It is on there as a proposal, but may not be utilized in the end. The curb side sections are drop off zones which are part of the traffic pattern changes since many students are dropped off with limited zones on the current site. A few of these drop off zones are for emergency vehicles only as designated and required by law. We anticipate electronic gating to help manage these portions. You are correct that this does not address safety concerns about the gully. With all due respect, it is anticipated site layout and was not intended to address every potential site concern. If you would like to email us at gsdfuture@graniteschools.org, perhaps I can learn and understand what those specific concerns are? We anticipate discussing details on sustainability plans as the design continues. Lastly, and again, with all due respect, the layout and orientation of the facility maximizes natural lighting to almost every classroom in the building (I know those aren’t shown in this layout, but we will have more detail published at a later date) as well as maximizing the incredible views of the mountains and other aesthetics of the site. Thanks again for your thoughts and have a great day.

  9. After graduating from Skyline myself and putting five sons through as well, it’s kind of sad but I’m totally excited that future Skyline students will be able to attend such a state of the art facility. I also sub at Skyline and see how badly a new structure is needed. Three questions: 1) I don’t see a driver’s ed course? 2) I presently use the west side of the campus at the top of Craig drive to drop my grandson off in the mornings. Will there be any access from that end of campus? 3) Is the stadium going to be renovated or completely moved and redone?

    • Good thoughts. The Driver’s Ed Course is anticipated to be laid out in one of the parking areas that can be cordoned off during use (similar to what they have now and what we do on other campuses). The same access that exists now on the West portion of the campus will still be there after the rebuild. Lastly, the stadium (as part of the first phase) will be completely rebuilt and moved slightly East (as close to the metro water easement as possible). The rebuild will allow for the expansion of the track to 8 full lanes like a few of our other facilities. Thanks for your comments and questions.

      • Thank you for you great response. I can’t wait to Dr the design renderings.

  10. It will be fun to watch the construction of the new
    It will be fun to watch the construction of the new SHS. I am sure you have an easy answer for this question, but here it is anyway: How are you going to keep foul balls from the baseball field out of the east student parking lot? It seems like there may be a lot of car damage. Thank you.

    shs.

    • Thanks for your thoughts. The distances are not that uncommon in proximity, but there will definitely be an issue on occasion. With the scheduling of those games, we anticipate that vehicles will have plenty of other parking options in their duration. The difficulty of this site size, building around the old building, and the other site constraints really limit other options although many variations were discussed. Thanks again,

  11. The layout looks great! I am however, concerned about the baseball field layout. It looks as if the batter will be facing west when up to bat and the 1st baseman will also be facing west when on his base ready to catch the ball to get a runner out. The game times are generally late afternoon and evening and have been such for several years. The sun will be in the batters eyes when he is up to bat causing him not to be able to see the ball which could cause serious injury, the 1st baseman will have the same obstacle. I understand a “study” was done as to what layout is best, but I can’t imagine why this layout would be preferred when it doesn’t look like any other high school baseball fields in Granite School District face this direction.

    • It’s not a preferred layout but was extensively studied. The pipeline easement is our biggest obstacle. We are not able to put any permanent structures on that easement. That being said, the stadium and additional landscaping is anticipated to address this concern. Thanks for your thoughts.

  12. What are the most aesthetically pleasing aspects to a school? Open spaces, play fields, interesting architecture. What are the least aesthetically pleasing aspects to a school? Parking lots, view blocking. It appears from the current plan that you’ve now moved one of the least aesthetically pleasing aspects (parking) closer to the homes located on Upland Drive and will most likely hinder the views for some of the homes located on Laurelcrest Street (you’ve moved large buildings closer to the rear of these homes). I do hope your traffic studies are correct because the traffic currently backs up from the Junior High (stop sign) all the way up to the Skyline sign on Upland Drive during early morning hours. It looks to me that you may have made matters worse. You now have to go down a fire road to get to the tennis courts? Wouldn’t it be better to have the tennis courts in a more accessible safer area? Why not move one or two of the play fields to the front of the school and move the least aesthetically pleasing aspects (parking) to the rear where no one will see it? Driving up and down Upland Drive you’ll now see parking lots? Why not make the school look beautiful from Upland Drive? One of the things they got right in the 1950’s was having most of the parking adjacent to the freeway where there are no homes. Why not enter faculty parking from Craig Drive and move some of the traffic off Upland Drive? Thank you listening, I’m sure you’ll do the right thing considering both form and function!

    • Please know that all of those things were taken into consideration and the site limitations and (again, we are dealing with a site that needs to maintain current facilities while constructing new ones) on one of the smallest sites in the state. We typically have twice the acreage to work with and without a pipeline easement down the middle. I can assure you that the parking is cut in half off of Upland from originally proposed layouts and we do anticipate that some landscaping will help offset the views. That being said, pushing parking lots to the back of the site only magnifies traffic issues. We appreciate your thoughts and comments.