The onlookers were the St. Cloud school district's high school task force.
The group held it latest workshop on the high school issue — this one focused on the site named by the St. Cloud school board as its preferred location for a new Technical High School. Upgrades to Apollo High School also were discussed.
Students, faculty and visitors would enter the building through an administrative checkpoint and into a central commons area. Gyms, locker rooms and a pool would be to the right and an auditorium to the left. Classrooms and other learning spaces would be beyond the commons, facing a tract of oak woodlands.
The concept is tentative and includes only bare-bones details about the high school building.
But it's the first public glimpse of how a new high school might take shape in south St. Cloud.
"To actually see it on the physical site ... that's what's exciting," task force member Joy Ottem said.
The sprawling, 102-acre high school site provides plenty of layout options, architects told the task force. Matt Glaesman, community development director for the city of the St. Cloud, said the site could accommodate 500 homes.
"You have a lot of land to play with," Glaesman told the task force.
Most of the site is an open field. But it also includes a trout stream, Neenah Creek, and wetlands and woods.
Access to the site is expected to come from County Road 74. Glaesman said it would be difficult to create an access point from 33rd Street South because much of the wooded land between the site and the street is environmentally sensitive.
The district doesn't yet own the proposed high school site. But district officials say they have a plan to acquire it. They have an option to buy a portion of the land that is privately owned and have discussed a land swap with the city of St. Cloud to acquire the remaining acreage.
The currently undeveloped Neenah Creek Park borders the high school site to the east. The city has a master plan to build softball, baseball and soccer fields and other amenities there. The park was one factor cited by the task force in recommending the site for a new high school.
Also Thursday, the task force discussed concepts for expanding Apollo High School and renovating much of its existing space. Consensus emerged behind adding more natural light to the building and a new main entry, commons area and lab space.
District officials have said they hope to make sufficient upgrades to Apollo to put the facility on even footing with a new Tech High School.
The architects and task force representatives will make a presentation to the school board at its March 11 meeting. That presentation is expected to include a more detailed rendering of a new Tech and renovated Apollo.
The school district hopes to hold a referendum vote this fall to authorize property-tax increases to fund the high school projects.
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