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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO OCTOBER 16,2017, STMs 2017-2&-3 20 Pelham Road; determine whether the money will be provided by the tax levy, by transfer from available funds,by borrowing or by any combination of these methods; or act in any other manner in relation thereto." "DESCRIPTION: Lexington Children's Place (LCP), the legally-mandated pre-kindergarten program for Lexington Public Schools, outgrew its location in the Harrington School two years ago, and has been occupying additional space in the Central Administration building. This split program is educationally suboptimal, presents safety concerns, and will not satisfy long term space needs. With the Town's purchase of the 20 Pelham Road property, the School Committee has recommended the use of a portion of this property as a permanent location for the LCP. Moving LCP to Pelham Road will meet the needs of the LCP program for the foreseeable future and will make space available at Harrington to help alleviate overcrowding at the elementary level. The funds requested by this Article will be for completion of design funds through construction documents and early construction package." (Town Warrant, 18 Sep 2017) Analysis The LPS desire is to build a new, free-standing, LCP on the Pelham Road site as that provides a better cost-benefit solution than renovating the existing 60-year old building. The replacement of LCP will increase the capacity to 187 slots. As of September 22, 2017, LCP has an enrollment need for 121 slots, though this is expected to increase as children age into the program throughout the year. In the 2017 Annual Town Meeting CEC Report, released April 24, 2017, the then-enrollment need was for 127 slots. Thus the new LCP provides for approximately a 50% growth in enrollment. Enrollment projections beyond more than a few years are imprecise, especially for younger students, so there is no projection for how long this capacity will be sufficient; however, this Committee expects the current excess capacity of 50% to be sufficient for the foreseeable future. Should that not be correct, the design for the new LCP would accommodate future additional classrooms. In addition, moving LCP out of Harrington will free up four classroom spaces that could accommodate any combination of general-education capacity, special—education capacity, art or music instruction,providing much needed additional elementary-school space. A new facility will provide a 50-year structural solution that will minimize maintenance versus renovation, as well as provide a more energy-efficient (LEED Silver) building, tailored to the LCP educational program. Shown in the next table are the full costs estimated for this project. LCP construction Total project cost $14,879,342 Article Request $2,500,000 Previous appropriation Annual TM April 2017 $581,500 LCP project costs as outlined in the September 13, 2017 Budget Summit information packet. See https://lexington.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/. Conclusion The Committee feels strongly that both for educational reasons and for the additional capacity this will provide that this project should go forward. 5