After nearly two years of planning, the sounds of saws and mulchers busily working away at the row of trees outside Dowagiac Union High School last week came as music to the ears of district leaders.

On Wednesday, construction crews arrived in town to begin preliminary work for the $16.5 million renovation plans for the high school. Workers removed the line of trees outside the school on Prairie Ronde Street in order to dig a swale, a ditch-like hole that will collect rainwater.

While construction is already underway, district leaders will host a formal groundbreaking ceremony for the project at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the west parking lot of the high school. Several district officials will deliver remarks commemorating the kickoff of the project, which has been in the works since the passage of the $37 million bonds in November 2015.

“You can finally see the dust in the air, the machines arriving on site, the piles of dirt,” said Superintendent Paul Hartsig. “After spending so long planning this out in committee, its nice to see these plans come into fruition.”

The digging of the swale is a minor item on the list of improvements to Dowagiac Union High School.

The hole is designed to take some pressure of the city sewage system. Before, during major rain events, excess water would run into the streets outside the school, seeping into the drains.

In the days to come, contractors will begin the first major portion of the project: construction of a new competition gym on the school’s west side, which is expected to seat around 1,300 people. Crews will start by digging out the footings for the new structure.

At the end of the spring semester in June, construction will kick off inside the school building. Workers will spend the summer replacing the heating and cooling equipment and installing new fire systems, Hartsig said.

Construction work will also begin at Chris Taylor Alumni Field next month, following the high school commencement ceremony June 4. Contractors will install new ADA-compliant bleachers on both the home and visitors side of the field.

The improvements to the high school and football stadium — scheduled to be complete in 2018 — are part of the series of overhauls the district is making to many of its buildings using funds from the 2015 school bonds. The district will also make improvements to the four elementary buildings over the next several years.