HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-15-PBC-minTOWN OF LEXINGTON
Permanent Building Committee
Permanent Members
Jon Himmel, Co-Chairman, Charles Favazzo, Co-Chairman,
Peter Johnson, Philip Coleman, Celis Brisbin, Elizabeth Giersbach, Frederick Merrill
Police Station Members: Semoon Oh, Wendy Krum
Associate Members: Curt Barrentine, Henrietta Mei
PBC Minutes for the meeting held on: 2-15-24
Meeting was held hybrid via Zoom
Members Present:
Jon Himmel, Charles Favazzo, Celis Brisbin, Fred Merrill, Wendy Krum,
Others Present:
David Kanter, Mark Sandeen, Deepika Shawhney
Johnson Roberts Architects; Stew Roberts, Natalie Eringros.
SMMA Architects; Lorraine Finnegan, Matthew Rice.
Dore & Whittier; Mike Burton, Steve Brown, Christina Dell Angelo
Staff: Michael Cronin, Mark Barrett, Dr. Julie Hackett, Koren Stembridge
The PBC Meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm.
Meeting Minutes
The Approval of Meeting Minutes (October 26, 2024; November 16, 2024; December 6, 2024; January 11, 2024) was
postponed until the next PBC meeting.
Cary Library Update
Stewart Roberts reported that the architectural design for the Children’s room renovation had not changed since
the last update. They have refined the HVAC system design and were able to re-use some of the existing
ductwork which saved on some costs. There had been continued work on outdoor condenser locations and they
have been able to locate them all in the existing mechanical pit and would be surrounded by a railing and grate,
matching the existing. The cost estimate was updated, and it was slightly under what was estimated previously.
The furnishing budget was refined and more accurate, and it had decreased slightly. Slides were presented. It was
reported that the goals of the project were the same. Floor plans and renderings were presented. An estimate in
January was done at 75% construction documents, and the total budget had decreased to $6.39 million. The plan
was to bid after a successful Town Meeting and begin construction in July 2024, and finish construction in June
2025.
It was discussed that it would be a $4.0 million ask to the town. The information that would go to Appropriations
and Capital Expenditure Committee was already available. It was asked if the exit of the elevator was toward the
parking lot or Mass Ave. It was stated that the exit was toward Mass Ave. David Kanter asked for the slides to be
sent to him, and it was stated that they would be. It was asked if there was any design consideration to make the
area outside usable for children. It was discussed that the possibility could be discussed for the renovation in 2028
since the budget was so tight. It was asked if there was sound baffling for the condensers. It was reported that
there were acoustic panels in place.
Police Station Update
Steve Brown from Dore and Whittier provided an update on the Police Station construction. He reported that there
was a lot of progress over the past month, and the last phase of the project was getting close. April 19th was the
current date of substantial completion date. In January, glazing was mostly complete, brickwork and brownstone
were nearly complete, metal and membrane roofing and trim installations were ongoing, and inspections
throughout the month were conducted. The interior work was ongoing, with insulation of overhead ducts and
coolant lines continuing, fire stopping ongoing, tile work continuing in the 2nd-floor bathrooms and locker rooms,
locker installations were generally complete with slope tops underway, drywall installation was mostly complete,
terrazzo flooring in the main lobby was complete, and priming and painting was ongoing throughout the building.
In February, the elevator cab work will be ongoing and completed in March, the interim metal work will be ongoing,
finish work in the bathrooms and locker rooms will be ongoing, exterior work on the brickwork will be addressed,
the millwork will continue for the rest of the month, and the solar canopy foundation work was being priced. He
presented photos of the building envelope progress, the electrical duct bank, and interior progress.
He reported that in December, overhead MEP rough installation and labeling were ongoing, AC piping and
ductwork passed the pressure testing, fire stopping was ongoing, wall tile began in the bathrooms, and most
windows were installed. The brick and brownstone continued through December. The drywall installation was
mostly done, and painting was ongoing. The exterior conduit was signed off from Eversource. The northwest
corner was filled, and it will be used for loading in the Spring once the binder is down. The roof trims and gutters
were ongoing. The main boiler and chiller were successfully pressure-tested. AT&T put a grounding ring around
the newly installed antenna base for the tower. The ceiling grid begins on the second floor. The plumber was
working on his items. There was curtain wall testing and one window-wall test, both of which passed. The town of
Lexington building inspector and electrical inspector were on the job. Mike Burton reported that there was more
dedicated focus from the Griffin Team on underground work, and it was hoped they would be able to have
Eversource sign off in the coming week. A date will be provided for the transformer once Eversource signs off. The
whole site had 400 amps, which was only enough to provide construction power. It was discussed that the move-in
date was not scheduled until June 20 subject to receiving a Certificate of Occupancy.
It was asked if power could be picked up from the adjacent buildings. It was confirmed that Eversource would not
give a date on the transformer until the underground work was complete and they came out. There was work being
done with CTA on the canopy, and other vendors were reached out to for estimates. Mike Burton reported that
galvanization, profile refinement, and tonnage were being examined to reduce the costs of the canopy. A new price
with the refinements was being sought. The PV was in a separate $3.4 million project. It was stated that the
building was doing okay financially. A series of changes were made. It was asked what the schedule was for the
monopole and the solar. It was reported that the tentative date for the monopole was the first week of March and
would come after the electrical trenching, and there was not an anticipated date for the solar until the pricing was
determined. It was discussed that the target was still fall 2024.
Update on Lexington High School Project
Lorraine Finnegan from SMMA provided an update on the Lexington High School Project. She reported that the
Existing Conditions Evaluation was completed and distributed to the SBC for review and comment and there were
no major comments. The Existing Space Evaluation was 95% complete. A final walkthrough will be done on
February 22nd. The final survey was received and is being gone through, and it will be used to help confirm the total
gross area. The Proposed Space Evaluation was 90% complete. There were multiple meetings with departments to
discuss the need and the use. The goal was to send the draft of the Proposed Space Evaluation on February 16th
to show the total existing and proposed existing spaces by category. The Existing Space Summary was presented
and discussed to explain how room types were combined. The net square footage included the area of the rooms,
and the total building gross floor area included the corridors and walls. The gross factor has to account for all of the
bathrooms, stairs, elevators, mechanical spaces, and more. The existing total building gross floor area was
351,930 square feet. The grossing factor was 1.39. The Preliminary Design Program (PDP) design workflow was
presented.
It was asked if 352,000 was the existing or new building area square footage. It was clarified it was the existing
building area. The total building net floor area was 253,441. It was stated that the MSBA will accept a grossing
factor up to 1.5. It was clarified that there was a school-only baseline requested. Mark Sandeen asked if there was
a ratio for square footage to student. Lorraine Finnegan reported that once there were 2,000 students, the ratio
stopped. Enrollment Projection at LHS is 2395.
Matthew Rice from SMMA discussed the focus groups. The groups were happening in isolation regarding
discussion, but the content and subject matter overlapped because there were existing synergies between the
working groups. There was a collection of four meetings, with the fourth including all focus groups. All four focus
groups completed the second meeting to review and respond. The first meeting was intended to be a listening
session and all members were heard from. It was stated that it was a successful activity. A lot of the conversation
was framed within the overview of the integrated design policy, and the goal was to get as much input as possible.
The second meeting was an opportunity to take in all of the feedback and dive deeper into some of the topics. The
third meeting will be an opportunity to draft recommendations and discuss them in a group format. There will be a
lot of content and a lot of discussion to take place in the two-hour meeting. The mechanism that was planned to be
used was to distribute a listing of the recommendations that came from the first two meetings in a spreadsheet
format. The list will be sent out in advance of the third meeting so that the focus group can come to the meeting
with thoughts on it. It was asked if the list would be posted on the website or would be distributed directly to the
focus groups. Matthew Rice stated that it would be sent to the focus group attendees initially, but there would be
discussions regarding widely distributing it in the future. It was asked if there was documentation of the full
meetings for individuals who could not be there for the full meeting. It was reported that all of the meeting notes
and recordings were available on the website. The educational planning and equity focus group covered the
process and understanding of how the activities will combine with the plan.
The sustainability/Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing (MEP) systems focus group covered energy, MEP systems, and
healthfulness. One of the most involved discussions was surrounding the net zero energy equation, and a rough
analysis was performed. The site, safety, and security focus group discussed the natural environment, site design,
programmatical aspects surrounding site design, athletic resources, and safety and security related to active and
passive systems. There was a lot of discussion surrounding sustainability and how the building and site operate
together, including electrical vehicle parking. The exterior and interior design focus group discussed the
architecture of both the interior and exterior of the building. There was no design proposed yet, but it will be
coming in later stages. The tradeoffs were discussed.
It was stated that the focus groups were very informative. It was asked when projects did the reconvening later
was a preliminary scheme looked at and responded to it. Matthew Rice confirmed this was the case. It was asked if
the reconvene was to come back when there was a scheme or multiple schemes to do more focus group work.
Matthew Rice stated that in the later phases, the focus groups would look at particular design options. Mike Burton
reported that there were meetings from July to October 2024 to discuss the designs. Matthew Rice stated that
there was typically an iteration of focus groups for design during the schematic design phase. It was asked if the
focus group on-site, safety, and security will discuss security on the inside. Matthew Rice reported that there was a
little bit of discussion on the interior and that future discussions will evolve to discuss interior security. It was
suggested to have work sessions regarding sustainability and reimbursement. A proposed school size of 475,000
sf is the current estimate being used for sustainability purposes. It was discussed to have hands-on sessions to see
where inputs were needed. It was noted that a working session might be desirable before activity 169 on June 5.
Mike Burton presented the project schedule overview. The current phase was the Preferred Schematic Report
(PSR) phase, which will conclude in June. The meetings from January were presented. In February, the project
team will review the Existing Conditions, the Educational Program, the Evaluation Criteria, and the Space
Summary. The Evaluation Criteria comments were due on February 16th and a couple of comments had been
received. The Space Summary will be issued on February 16th for initial review. There will be a lot of content at the
February 26th SBC meeting. It was suggested that the April 11th meeting could be moved to April 18th and that
there may be other slight adjustments. It was asked when the narrative to the estimator was planned to be
complete and if there was an activity. It was suggested that the evaluation criteria had different weights amongst
the criteria. Mike Burton stated that weighting criteria could be brought up at the SBC meeting.
Urgent Business
There was no further business.
Motion to adjourn, all approved.
Next meeting: 7:45 pm