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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-30-CEC-min •'p)c PAOt M1kr, G4 LL n Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 30, 2015 APRIL Y$ Location and Time Town Office Building, Reed Room, 8.00 A M Members Present Jill Hai, Chair, David Kanter, Vice-Chair & Clerk, Elizabeth Barnett, Rod Cole, Wendy Manz Members Absent None Others Present Judy Crocker, Member, School Committee, and Co-Chair, Ad hoc School Master Planning Committee (AhSMPC), Jon Himmel, Co-Chair, Permanent Building Committee, and Member, AhSMPC, Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Documents Presented • Notice of Public Meeting/Agenda for January 30, 2015 • A Recommended Funding Approach with Flexibility that helps Achieve the Currently Slated School Projects, prepared by Mr Himmel, January 28, 2015 • Draft #3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting, January 13, 2015 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, January 24, 2015 3.01 P M ) • Draft Minutes of the CEC Meetings, January 15 & 22, 2015 (Distributed by Mr Kanter's e-mail to the other CEC Members and Ms Arnold, January 24, 2015 347PM ) Call to Order Ms Hai called the meeting to order at 8.02 A.M Approval of Minutes The following votes on Minutes were taken • A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft #3 Minutes of the CEC Meeting, January 13, 2015, as presented Vote 5-0 • A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting January 15, 2015, as presented Vote 3-0-2 [Ms. Hai and Mr Cole abstained as they were not at the meeting] • A Motion was made and seconded to approve the Draft Minutes of the CEC Meeting, January 22, 2015, with the changes as discussed Vote 4-0-1 [Mr Cole abstained as he was not at the meeting] Capital Projects in the Town's FY2016—FY20 Capital Program Wright Farm Parcel 2 Purchase using Community Preservation Act (CPA) Funds Mr Kanter reported that the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted unanimously to support the purchase of a portion of Wright Farm [1 00±-acre "Parcel 2"] for $520,000, consistent with the Town's 180-day first-right-of-refusal agreement to pay $500,000 plus inflation when Parcel 2 became available This agreement was negotiated at the time [2012] the Town purchased "Parcel 1" [12 60±-acres] LexHAB is interested in creating affordable housing using the house and garage that are on Parcel 2, the plan includes moving the garage to the other side of the house The balance of Parcel 2, which includes a barn, will be used for open space The division between housing and open space has not yet been identified The total cost, including funding for LexHAB work and ancillary costs, is $755,000 Ms Barnett expressed concern about using this location for a single family unit. Page 1 of 5 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 30, 2015 Lexington Community Center (LCC) Preservation Restriction Endowment Funding using CPA Funds Mr Kanter reported that the CPC voted unanimously to support a $25,000 payment to the Lexington Historical Society to fund an endowment for the Society's expenses for holding the historic-preservation restriction for the LCC The funding is expected to be sufficient to cover those expenses over the next five to ten years It was noted that this is commonly done with historic restrictions, and the Town has the right to audit their expenditures When the endowment's balance has been substantially diminished, the Society (or any subsequently assigned holder) would be expected to ask the Town to replenish the endowment. Member Concerns and Liaison Updates School Department Expansion Projects to Address School Capacity Issues Mr Cole reported on the AhSMPC's meeting held earlier in the day He included the following points • Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA), which was hired by the School Department to evaluate the impact of enrollment (current and projected) on Lexington's school buildings and assess the feasibility of various building options including potential cost, is finalizing its Phase III report. • Mr Himmel provided the AhSMPC with a table that identified a potential process for pursuing the next steps needed to determine which options identified by SMMA should be pursued • The AhSMPC voted to request that the School Committee dissolve the committee Mr Himmel provided the Committee with details on the analysis he has done regarding a possible funding approach which retains flexibility as more information is known about the costs and timing of the various capital-improvement components being considered to address the School District's lack of adequate capacity—both currently and, more significantly, as projected by the Superintendent's Enrollment Working Group (EWG) in its report ["Five-year Enrollment Forecasts for the Lexington Public Schools FY2015-FY2020", dated December 2014 ] His comments included • The Town should embark on a system-wide approach for evaluating the space needs required to accommodate the current and projected school enrollment. This is in contrast to previous efforts that focused on one school project at a time • SMMA was hired by the Town to collect and present data on Town-wide existing conditions in the schools, evaluate the broad needs based on current and projected enrollment, and assess the feasibility and cost of various building options This provided details on the space currently available for educational programs in the schools and an overarching consultant's perspective on the anticipated space needs with conceptual options for addressing the projected future enrollment. • SMMA used a consultant cost estimator to create preliminary cost estimates for potential prefabricated and "bricks and mortar" construction projects, that process is based only on space parameters SMMA took their consultant's estimates and added soft costs, etc , and thus provided Lexington with Project costs These project costs were estimated for a current bid and then escalated to a Summer 2016 bid time frame Page 2 of 5 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 30, 2015 • The Town doesn't know if the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will help fund a project to replace/rebuild the Maria Hastings Elementary School during it's next cycle at the end of this calendar year If Hastings becomes an MSBA-approved project, the Town will likely be required to conduct a formal feasibility study following MSBA guidelines • Both middle schools and all of the elementary schools except the Joseph Estabrook Elementary School need further evaluation to determine their suitability for expansion, renovation, and/or rebuilding projects In other words, it is time for more in-depth study and the development of schematic designs to understand which projects should move forward Even if a site, such as the location of the Fiske Elementary School, is currently considered too challenging, it should still be evaluated, because at some point in time, it may be necessary to go back and re- look at the different options Hastings should also be evaluated even though MSBA may eventually invite the project to be included in its Eligibility Period, and may or may not require readdressing some elements already looked at by the Town That cost differential should not slow the process necessary to deliver new classrooms to address the current overcrowding and projected overcrowding Mr Himmel noted that there appears to be general consensus among those involved in these issues, and most notably the Superintendent, that additional classroom space is needed no later than the fall of 2016 Working backwards, and using the handout that he had used at the AhSMPC meeting, he demonstrated a need for a spring 2015 Special Town Meeting and his conclusion it should support $4,080,000 to fund further studies, schematic-level design, design development, construction documents, and bidding—with the level of work tailored to each of the schools involved and the projected timelines to bring on the additional capacity at each school He referred to the chart in his handout that shows an estimation of the cost of how much design work is anticipated under this funding request. That dollar amount does not include the estimated $980,000 for standard modules at Fiske by this fall—$842,000 to bring them on line and $138,000 for subsequent, annual, rental charges He supports appropriate overview of when it's reasonable to authorize the use of the already-appropriated, later-stage, funds because the needs may shift as more information becomes available, but if the funds aren't available, projects will be delayed and the schools will not have the needed capacity, assuming enrollment increases as projected Ms Crocker identified three aspects of the equation that need to be included as part of the process • How to accommodate the projected increasing enrollment at the two middle schools • Where to locate a pre-kindergarten facility Options currently include the Harrington Elementary School site, the Hasting site or another location such as the Laconia Street parcel If on a site with an elementary school, it needs to be determined whether the pre-kindergarten program is in a free-standing facility or part of the elementary school • The appropriate size for a new Hastings Page 3 of 5 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 30, 2015 There was discussion about what additional information and answers the School Committee needs to provide to support the request. Comments included the following • There needs to be a dynamic display of when added capacity would come on line that demonstrates how it sequentially meets the anticipated needs considering both the by-school current enrollment and whatever projected enrollment growth number is being used • It is not enough to just show the additional space needed for the EWG's projections because there is already overcrowding in some schools • Although the EWG's projections are Town-wide numbers, it would be helpful to see what has happened for the last five years at each school, which may help us gauge what will happen going forward Because no one knows which schools will be attended by the projected students, error bands would be necessary • The administrative options (e g , redistricting, revised educational processes, change in class sizes, temporary "on cart" services, etc ) to address overcrowding need to be addressed with specificity as to why discounted or, if recommended to be implemented, what is planned That should make clear why even any or some delayed implementation of new, additional, capacity isn't deemed acceptable • There needs be a clear understanding of the work done by SMMA and how this differs from the work that still needs to be done • Credibility with Town Meeting and the public is critical Effort must be taken to ensure that what is presented, to the extent possible, is heavy on graphical displays so voluminous textual material is not being relied upon to make the case to the Town Meeting members Mr Himmel continued with comments and suggestions that included the following • All of the SMMA projects are conceptual, schematics are the next step Everything gets "fleshed out" to a greater extent in the next phase • The Town needs to hire an Owner's Project Manager to augment the Department of Public Facilities staff on this endeavor This may cost $280,000 for nine months, but this is critical to having an efficient and effective process • The Town needs to issue a Request for Proposals and start the project on this April 1st with a program study of the elementary and middle schools (including Hastings) • In this July there should be a summit of decision makers to review all the material and determine next steps, including the release of already-appropriated funds • The above schedule would be tight but, if adhered to, it would be possible to have all the necessary information completed in time for a Special Town Meeting this November to address the next funding request needed to keep progress on schedule Page 4 of 5 Minutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting January 30, 2015 • It may be a painful process going to Town Meeting for over $4 0 million, but this is important for efficiency and meeting the space needs of the anticipated student population • It is necessary to include all of the projects identified in the Town-Wide Facilities Master Plan when discussing the building needs in the Town, these include a new Fire Headquarters and Police Headquarters No vote or position was taken by the Committee Board of Selectmen (BoS) Ms Hai reported that Joe Pato, Chair, BoS, is planning a meeting with two members of each committee that attended the Budget Summits to review plans for Town Meeting presentations She and Mr Cole will be our participants in that meeting Next Meeting Ms Hai reported that Carl Valente, Town Manager, is interested in meeting with this Committee to present additional information that is available relating to some of the proposed FY2016 capital projects Adjourn A Motion was made and seconded at 10.00 A.M to adjourn Vote 5-0 These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on February 24, 2015 Page 5 of 5