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Article 2017 -1.4: Appropriate Design Funds for Lexington Children's Place /20
<br />Pelham Road
<br />Funds Requested
<br />Funding Source
<br />Committee Recommendation
<br />$581,500
<br />GF Debt
<br />Approval (7 -2)
<br />The property at 20 Pelham Road was formerly known as the Armenian Sisters Academy, a private K -8
<br />school. It comprises about 8.4 acres of land with a mostly one -story school building constructed in 1959,
<br />two paved driveways, and two small paved parking lots. Between three and four acres of the plot is cov-
<br />ered by woods, with a small clearing on the west side of the building. Some of the area is considered to be
<br />wetlands; a rough estimate suggests that 6 to 7 acres may be considered developable. The building has
<br />slightly less than half the capacity of other Lexington public elementary schools; it contains 10 class-
<br />rooms, a two -story gym, a cafeteria, and administrative offices. The property abuts the location of the
<br />Lexington Community Center (LexCC) and carriage house.
<br />On December 2, 2015, under Article 4 of the November 2, 2015 Special Town Meeting #1, $150,000 was
<br />appropriated for studies of vehicular access to and egress from the site, pedestrian access between the site
<br />and the LexCC, and other engineering studies. Professional consultants performed the access studies, and
<br />have submitted a report to Town officials.
<br />The amount of $8,000,000 was appropriated in May 2016 under Article 2 of Special Town Meeting 2016-
<br />2 to acquire the property. On February 15, 2017, this Committee approved a transfer of $17,115 from the
<br />Reserve Fund for due diligence studies that needed to be done prior to acquisition of the property. The
<br />agenda for the Board of Selectmen meeting on March 8, 2017, just prior to press time, contained an exec-
<br />utive session item to "... Review and Authorize Town Manager to Sign Purchase and Sale Agreement for
<br />20 Pelham Road Property ". However, by press time no details of a negotiated agreement were available
<br />for public release.
<br />The Town's preschool, Lexington Children's Place (LCP), provides services to preschool children, in-
<br />cluding children with special needs who qualify under the state mandate for free educational services.
<br />Due to growing enrollment, LCP currently uses space in both the new and old Harrington School build-
<br />ings. Having the program split between two buildings presents substantial inconveniences for the LCP
<br />staff. At the same time, K -5 enrollment at the new Harrington School continues to grow. The demand
<br />for space for administrative uses in the old Harrington building also continues to grow, especially with the
<br />current transition to central registration that will be administered in the School Administration building.
<br />Increased use by LCP of the old Harrington building would present building code compliance issues, and
<br />there is only limited parking at the site, which must accommodate elementary school, preschool, and ad-
<br />ministrative staff and visitors. Given this situation, the School Committee has been looking for a way to
<br />move one or more uses off site.
<br />With the assistance of the architectural firm DiNisco Design Partnership, Inc., the School Committee
<br />evaluated five alternative sites for the Lexington Children's Place program and determined that the Pel-
<br />ham Road property is the preferred location. Since the building was formerly used as an elementary
<br />school, the floor plan of a major portion, i.e., the part laid out for classroom use that comprises just under
<br />half the floor area, is favorable for conversion to LCP use. The cafeteria and gym occupy large portions
<br />of the floor area not currently planned for use by LCP.
<br />At the present time there are open questions in regard to the future locations of a number of Lexington
<br />Public Schools facilities, including LCP, the Central Offices, and a possible seventh elementary school.
<br />As noted above, five sites were considered as possible sites for LCP. A decision to renovate the Pelham
<br />Road building for LCP would foreclose for the foreseeable future the possibility of using the 20 Pelham
<br />Road property for an elementary school. However, the Pelham Road site is not particularly well - suited to
<br />use as an elementary school for several reasons. The lot is small, and it seems unlikely that it could sup-
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