The Sausalito Marin City School District is moving ahead on a much-debated plan to move subterranean Willow Creek above ground.

The district’s trustees voted unanimously this month to award a nearly $800,000 architectural design contract for the project to Prunuske Chatham Inc.

“The scope of the work is the full design package,” said Jason Cave, construction project manager for the district. “This design work is highly specialized, and there’s only a few companies that can do it.”

Steve Moore of the environmental nonprofit Friends of Willow Creek praised district leaders for working with his group and others to make the project happen. The group has been lobbying for the project for almost a decade.

“I know this is not in your comfort zone,” Moore told superintendent LaResha Huffman and budget director Gina Murphy-Garrett. “Restoring a creek on a school campus is an ambitious, outside-the-box thing.”

Cave said the company will take the design from the schematic and final drawings through to the Division of the State Architect permitting process, which is required for any school construction. The company also will prepare documents for the California Environmental Quality Act review.

Cave estimated that all the design drawings, documents and permits could be done by June 2026, at which point the district could begin construction.

The $795,950 contract, plus another $120,000 for the construction manager, will be covered by a $3 million grant the district has received from the Environmental Protection Agency. That will leave about $2 million for construction costs.

Cave said $2 million likely would not be enough. He estimated the construction of the channel for about 900 feet of the creek around the perimeter of the Sausalito campus might cost up to $4 million or $5 million. However, he said the cost won’t be known until the design package is completed.

The balance of the money for construction could come from Friends of Willow Creek or other groups, as well as Sausalito or other outside sources, Cave said. He said having all the design documents and permits in place would increase the likelihood of raising donations.

“A project that’s moving forward with a design and which has some semblance of plans and a construction start date is more enticing to outside groups that are looking to donate to projects like this,” Cave said.

Lisa Bennett, president of the district, agreed.

“I know there are outside groups really chomping at the bit to make this work,” she said.

When completed, the exposed creek is expected to be a boon for environmental education, said Nathan Scripps, a science teacher at the district’s K-8 school, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy.

“I hope we can agree that getting our kids out there and teaching them about our local watershed through hands-on experience is such an important part of what we do here,” Scripps said.

Parent Kieran Culligan agreed.

“I’m super excited about this project,” he said. “I think it’s a great example of partnership.”