2016-05-09-CEC-STM2-STM4-rpt (supplement)

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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO STMs 2016-2&-4 the west to Conservation land, and on the north to Pelham Road—which has mostly single-family homes. It is located close to the center of Town, equal distant to the two most-significantly overcrowded elementary school districts. This Committee agrees that the pressing space needs of the School Department drive the Town's consideration of this purchase. However, if it were ultimately to be determined that Pelham is not appropriate for school use, this report also identifies an opportunity to create senior/affordable housing. This is a non-exhaustive, not prioritized, list of potential school and municipal uses: •Lexington Children's Place(LCP, the mandated Lexington Public Schools (LPS)pre-K program) At 10 classrooms, the current building would fit the program requirements, but would require both hazardous-materials remediation and some renovation. That is estimated to cost between $5 and $10 million to make it ready for use in the short term; between $10 and$15 million to make it "20-year" caliber for long-term use. These estimates are based on the information from limited access and hazardous-materials testing that has already been done. Those results provide a preliminary estimate of $750,000 for remediation, which is included in the above estimates. Until we have more complete access to the property,we will not know the exact nature of the remediation/renovations necessary. The current lack of permanent space for LCP is in the existing Capital plan,requiring a near-term solution. This could also allow the gym and cafeteria to be used by Recreation Department or Senior-Services programming from the adjacent LexCC. This could also allow the facility to operate as an additional Lextended Day Program site, helping to reduce the current 175-student wait list for that programming. (That Program is not a LPS requirement; it is a fee-based, operating-revenue-neutral,program.) This could provide space for other stand-alone programs within the LPS for which we do not currently have adequate space (e.g., the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunities (METCO) Extended Learning Program (MELP) and the Lexington, Arlington, Burlington, Bedford, Belmont (LABBB) Collaborative for special-needs students). An additional, low-usage, connecting roadway would be required from the LexCC to provide additional access,with an estimated cost of$350,000 to $400,000. The preference of the School Committee has been to locate this program close to an existing elementary school for economies of facilities and staffing. •Full-size, Elementary School If school population continues to grow at the current rate, the Town will need more elementary space within the next several years. Initial work has been done to determine that a 24-classroom school could theoretically be sited on the property at a preliminary estimate of$53 million to remove the existing building (recognizing it contains hazardous materials) and construct a new school. A full-scale, two-way road connecting to Marrett Road would be required to support this use and is estimated to cost an additional $3 million. Additional work must be done (e.g., detailed consideration of soil analysis and wetlands on the site, among many other factors)to move this from theoretical to feasible. This would provide full relief for current overcrowding and foreseeable enrollment growth. It also allows more flexibility for special-educational programs, LCP, and possibly middle school or high school as the grade assignments could be changed if necessary due to swing space needs, or growth. This Committee has previously reported that further elementary-school capacity increases were foreseeable even after the increases being provided by the currently approved additions, and a placekeeper has been included in this Committee's Five-Year Capital Plan. This could eliminate the need for a new LCP building if redistricting into this new school freed up sufficient spaces on the Harrington campus. This preserves flexibility at the Harrington campus for swing space or future growth. 2