A separate building housing a weight room and a shop for building stage scenery was included in the Fort Dodge Senior High School renovation proposal that voters approved last year by passing the needed borrowing authority.

On Tuesday, the city’s Board of Adjustment gave its OK to that building, which may become one of the first pieces of the $42 million high school project to get underway.

There is currently a small building on the east or back side of the high school that contains the weight room. The plan presented to the Board of Adjustment calls for tearing down that building, plus two small garages and a shed nearby.

On the ground where those structures are now, a new 19,850-square-foot building will be constructed.

It will house the weight room, an athletic training facility and a theater workshop for building sets.

A sign reading “Home of the Dodgers” and the school district’s “FD Dodgers” script logo will be on the north exterior wall.

A total of 39 new parking spaces will be created around the new building.

The city’s planning staff recommended approval.

Board of Adjustment approval was needed because the high school at 819 N. 25th St. is in an area zoned for single family homes.

J.P. Mansfield was absent from the otherwise unanimous vote to approve the project.

The panel also approved a measure that basically allows the school district to continue with the high school project without having to get Board of Adjustment approval for every phase of work.

A timeline for building the new structure hasn’t been finalized, but City Planner Thomas Leichliter said school officials have indicated they want to get it started soon.