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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE MARCH 2012 ATM & STM Warrant Article Analysis and Recommendations — SPECIAL TOWN MEETING — Article 2: Appropriate for New Funds Funding Committee Estabrook School Requested Source Recommendation $39,742,248 Excluded Debt Approve (9 -0) This Article is a request from the School Committee to appropriate funds to 1) complete design and construction documents, build, equip, furnish, and commission a new Estabrook School and 2) raze the existing building and restore the site to the desired condition. The amount requested represents the entire balance of estimated costs beyond the $1,050,000 appropriated at the 2011 Annual Town Meeting to cover the feasibility study and schematic design costs. The total project cost will, therefore, be the sum of $1,050,000 plus the amount appropriated under this Article. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has taken the position that the current building should not be used beyond December 2014 because it is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), even though the concentration of the PCBs in the air in the school is being controlled. The removal of the PCBs is apparently not feasible at a reasonable cost. This situation has created an urgent need to replace the building and led the School Department to submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for a school construction grant. The feasibility and schematic design process has been completed. Thus, much of the design process has proceeded according to MSBA requirements, and MSBA personnel have been active participants. It is expected that on March 28, 2012, the MSBA will vote their final approval of the terms of the construction grant and the amount to be appropriated for the project. In an estimate dated February 2, 2012, the total cost including contingency amounts is $40,792,248, and the MSBA grant would be limited to no more than $13,132,418, an amount equal to 37.27% of the eligible costs or about 32% of the overall project cost. (Approximately $5,500,000 of the total cost is not eligible under MSBA rules for the partial reimbursement.) It is our understanding that no changes have been made to these figures, and that they will be presented to the MSBA Board for approval on March 28. Note that the appropriation must include the amounts that will be covered by the MSBA grant. Why is the anticipated cost much higher than the cost of building the new Harrington and Fiske Schools? The new Harrington School was completed in 2005 at a cost of approximately $13M and the new Fiske School was completed in 2007 at a cost of approximately $18M. The cost to build the new Estabrook School will be higher because of: • the escalation of construction costs over 7 or 9 years • differences in building capacity and size • the need to demolish and remove the existing school building • the necessity of removing PCB - contaminated building and soil materials, • the complexity of working on an occupied site with special traffic considerations and with a restricted construction laydown area, • a tight construction timetable dictated by the need to get the new building completed before December 2014 and preferably by the beginning of September 2014 • a more complete accounting for building commissioning costs • changes in building codes