BUFFALO TWP — The new athletic complex and the new middle school at the Freeport School District are requiring extra work.

The school board on Thursday approved paying up to $70,000 to Pennsylvania Soil and Rock of Monroeville to remove top soil from the area where the athletic complex's driveway and ticket/concession stand will be and to replace a storm pipe.

This work is needed because testing at the site found that more top soil needs to be removed than initially expected.

Dennis Russo of Rucon, the project manager, said he did not anticipate the work costing more than $50,000.

Regarding the athletic complex, he said that footers for the stadium have been poured, plumbing is in place, stormwater holding tanks have been delivered and block work is up to grade.

The $3.57 million athletic complex on the high school campus on Route 356 will host football, girls lacrosse, and boys and girls soccer games. It will have a seating capacity of 2,000.

For the middle school, the school board approved change orders for additional work totaling $76,217. The work will be done by Shipley Plumbing of Cranberry Township.

Russo said the work was needed due to design errors.

Russo said workers are more than 75 percent through a punch list by the architect of items that need to be done. He said the architect, HHSDR of Pittsburgh, provided a long list.

“No stone unturned,” Russo said.

He said it can take several months to complete a punch list on a building of this size.

The $30 million, 115,000-square-foot school building opened in September, but work still is needed to be finished on the gymnasium and auditorium.

The middle school is next to the high school in Buffalo Township, and it replaces the former junior high school in Freeport.

School board President Dan Lucovich said the district hopes for a March open house at the school.