2009-04-08-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting, 4/08/09, 8:30am, Town Office Building, Room 111 Members Present: Ted Edson, Bill Hurley, Shirley Stolz, David Kanter, Charles Lamb (Chair) Others: Pat Goddard (Director of Public Facilities), Glenn Parker (Liaison from the Appropriation Committee), George Burnell (Selectmen), Rod Cole (School Committee) [See below for those arriving later for a separate discussion item.J Discussion of "Lexington Public Schools PK-12 Master Plan, March 12, 2009 Revised March 18~ 2009 " MP At issue: elementary schools (ES); crowding and infrastructure at the Lexington High School (LHS). After the last debt exclusion, energy proj ects had been cherry picked, but not strategically planned so they didn't achieve the building-wide goals. There are still modular classrooms in the Estabrook, Hastings & Bowman ES, and the Diamond Middle School. Modular classrooms are bad because they need more maintenance than standard classrooms and have higher utility costs. The MP looked at the LHS classrooms and systems and built on the energy reports of the last few years. It also looked at how to keep all of the ES going for the next decade. Design Partnership of Cambridge Inc. (DP) (awarded the contract to do the MP and who had done the Elementary School Master Plan Study in 2006) interviewed all the school principals. They also used the GGD High School HVAC Systems Assessment of 2007-2008 and the 2008 Russo Bar roof assessment of all school buildings. One of the conclusions of the MP is that there is overcrowding at the LHS. BH: Is overcrowding only at LHS? [Yes, plus Middle Schools; especially without the modular classrooms.] HMFH Master Plan was 1997 had predicted growth, but did not go high enough in estimates. The school population is bigger now than predicted in 1997. It had anticipated 1,842, but it is actually 2,012 now. The ES population is expected to decrease. The LHS population will continue at over 2,000 and not drop below 1,900 for 6 or 7 years. The classrooms are undersized at LHS. The schools administration also wants to improve access control at LHS. They asked DP to make a plan to limit access points at the LHS. DP's site concept achieves much of that goal by adding a bridge between two buildings and using new classroom construction (needed as part of the solution to the overcrowding) to connect two buildings. The MP includes $1M for the roofs at LHS (these were already in Pat's roofing plan for the next 10 years). There are also $3M of planned mechanical upgrades in the MP. Pat's roofing plan shows $12M in roofs systemwide, which implies 5% of that per year ($600K/yr) in roofing work. The alternative is to do periodic debt exclusions. The $37M for LHS would be Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) eligible. Pat estimates that we would receive about 40% of that in MSBA aid. Rod Cole: How much for a new HS? [$150M, but no swing space available and no new land available.] TE: How long would a $37M renovation last us? PG: The electrical is in good shape. The mechanical systems, roofs, and capacity are the issues. So at least 10 years based on existing assumptions. The estimated energy savings from the MP is $300K, so it's probably a net improvement in operating cost given the new space proposed. The univents are very