A real estate agent might say location is a determining factor in the value of property and its suitability for building. At Dalton High, it’s proven to be a setback for the school’s planned multi-purpose athletic and wellness facility.

“They’re dealing with bad soil conditions,” said contractor Allan Felker of Felker Construction, whose company was awarded the project. “The architect and engineers are looking at what to do to remedy the bad soil situation.”

Felker said the location next to the fieldhouse on campus “used to be a trash dump” and that when his company removed poles from the site recently there were chunks of concrete and wood down in the holes.

Felker did not comment on any costs that he thought might be incurred to stabilize the site and make it worthy for a foundation. The permitting process, which director of maintenance and operations Palmer Griffin said would be “atrocious” in the May board of education meeting due to watershed issues, has been completed. Felker said he had the appropriate permits in hand.

His firm will be given 180 days to finish the project when given the go-ahead from the architect. Griffin said in the May meeting he expected the facility to be finished in November or December of this year.

Board chairman Steve Williams confirmed “there’s a lot of stuff buried in there,” going back to the high school’s construction in the mid-1970s in the old Happy Top section of Dalton.

“You couldn’t get away with that these days,” he said. “The architect tells us he has designed it so that it won’t take much more time or money, and that there will not be a significant change in the cost. But we didn’t know (about the soil problem) back at the May meeting.”

At that board session the cost for the facility was projected at $1.29 million, then in June the amount had changed to $1.368 million and was approved. Sixty percent of the total project cost will come from the school system and 40 percent from private donations.

Williams said the cost of the project had not risen, but that the higher figure included architectural fees and permitting.

“For safety reasons, it’s time to update (the facilities),” maintained DHS principal Debbie Freeman. “The school is 31 years old.”

A tour of the present athletic areas revealed a bleacher revamping project under way in the gym by vocational students, and although the swimming pool water is clear and inviting, many of the fixtures are laden with rust. The school’s present weight room is also small for the many athletes and other students who want to use it, Freeman said.

Freeman claimed that when the new 8,500-square-foot weight room inside the multi-purpose facility is finished, it will be in use from 14 to 16 hours a day.

The new athletic structure will cover 15,000 total square feet, said director of maintenance and operations Palmer Griffin.

Included will be a weight room, batting cages, walking track, cardio room with stationary bikes and elliptical trainers, and space for court activities like volleyball. Nets may be used for the golf team to practice, and there will be 6,500 square feet of artificial turf outside the weight room.

“As far as curriculum goes,” said Freeman, “I’m working to shift the focus from PE (physical education) to a wellness center. There’s been talk about us making that shift.”