UPDATE: According to Superintendent Charan Cline the school now has occupancy in the dome. An agreement has been reached with the fire department and the city of Yamhill.  This update was reported in an email that was delivered to YCSD staff Monday morning. This is good news for staff who have been waiting to move into their classrooms and start educating students using this new space.

YCSD no longer has occupancy in the dome. What this means is that students and staff are not allowed in the dome. Students who are caught in the dome will get referrals.

The problem the district is running into is that the city’s water system does not produce enough water pressure for fire protection. The pumps would need to be able to pump 1500 gallons of water per minute. The city asked the YC school district to put in a very large water line across the campus, and that line would go all the way up to Pike street. That is about 1500 feet of pipeline. The city believed that doing this would bring up enough water flow to get pretty close to code. But the system did not produce enough water pressure. It was below code by roughly 400 gallons per minute. So the Fire Chief won’t let the YC students in there unless it is closer to 1500 gallons per minute.

“If we can manage to get 25,000 gallons of tanks for holding water, then they might agree to let us back in the dome,” said the superintendent, Mr. Cline.  If the city can get adjust the water system and get 1300 gallons of water per minute, then the fire chief might let us on temporarily. When the fire code came up to 1500 gallons per minute, the city didn’t upgrade their systems, but it is also very expensive to do so.

To eliminate any confusion there is a statement from the district, and it reads: “We have been receiving a number of questions about why the new Science/CTE Dome is not open for student use. The building is complete and has passed all inspections except fire flow. As part of the school bond process, the school district was required by the City of Yamhill to put in a 12-inch waterline across the campus and replace approximately 1500 feet of city waterline next to city streets. This was done at an approximate cost of 1.3 million dollars. This new line did not increase the fire flow up to the established fire code to school district property. The Yamhill Fire Department will not grant us occupancy until we are able to develop a plan to mitigate the inadequate volume of water. We are currently working with the fire protection district and the City of Yamhill to determine what those mitigating measures will be. It is the school district’s hope that a resolution will be met as soon and we can begin to teach students in this remarkable new facility. At the Yamhill City Council meeting on October 11th, the city council voted to start doing work to upgrade the fire flow to the whole community as it is inadequate, by code, for any existing commercial or educational building.”