HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-02-01-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE
Minutes of Saturday February 1 . 1997 Meetina in School Administration
Building, as approved November 4, 1997
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bruckman at 8 15 a m with
other committee members Kelley, Johnson, Poinelli and Touart present
Also present were School Committee members Neumeier and Peltz and
Capital Expenditures members Grammont and (ex-PBC) Kennedy as well as
Director of School Buildings Operation Moynihan
Middle Schools class size determination was revisited Poinelli asked
if the School Committee could determination for purposes of the HMFH
study Noted that the teachers ' contract sets teacher-pupil ratio for
purposes of staffing Class size is most affected by the team
organization of the middle schools Peltz said that 90-pupil teams were
envisioned when this organization was set up, she foresaw no problem
with 100-student teams A class size of 23 would be OK Chairman asked
how with 80 percent or more classroom utilization there could be a
square footage of 165 or more per pupil at both middle schools The
state guideline of 135 s f per pupil (with five percent above or below
allowance) refers to new construction, not accounting for space
inefficiencies in old buildings being rehabilitated? Is there 20 ,000
s f too much in each building? Poinelli noted that the state upgraded
its space requirements for each space/use but did not adjust the total
square footage amount Chairman Bruckman said he is still bothered by
the overage of space in the middle schools
Poinelli agreed to do a detailed analysis of core subject (four subjects
that meet five times a week each) use of spaces Many uses such as
custodial spaces , ESL and Metco are not in guideline allowances There
are now planned 51,000 s f of additions at the middle schools , 19, 600
at Clarke and 31 , 300 at Diamond Peter Kelley expressed concern about
the extent of the additions and asked if there could be more efficient
use of the space Principals of both middle schools will appear at the
next PBC meeting Tuesday, February 4, when the justification process
will be considered in detail and with more finality
Diamond Middle School as the older (about 40 years) of the two at that
level , presents special problems such as wide variations in classroom
size from 650 and even 567 s f to 900 Committee asked how many walls
are to be moved to address this differential and also wondered out loud
if it might be more practical to build a new school on the same site
Told that a new school would cost about $19 million whereas renovation
typically costs about 50 to 60 percent of a new school price tag
Poinelli suggested that a new addition might be positioned to close a
circulation loop and bring the school program closer to its
administration Asked if the old library location would serve better
than the present one Basically fixing the present school will cost
something like $11 million while a new school could cost somewhere
between $16 and $19 million In renovation a considerable amount of
gutting and rebuilding inner walls will be needed to address classroom
size inequities Noted that the enrollment bulge will be at the middle
schools in three years
PBC Minutes of 2/1/97 - Page 2
Chairman reminded that the committee must finish its work on the
planning phase in the next three to four weeks There possibly should
be an information meeting during Town Meeting Also the committee
considered how the project should be approached in terms of funding -
whole or piecemeal In discussion it was emphasized that HMFH is
producing a master plan
Timeline sheet from HMFH was distributed and criticized, especially for
the delay in planning for the elementary schools Warned that
reimbursement rates may drop and that the Governor has recently proposed
stretching out the funding Poinelli explained how Category II
reimbursement (to meet enrollment increases) works Following
acceptance of new projects for each year, the list is frozen Then the
waiting list for actual funding is lengthened About 100 to 175 project
applications are expected by June 1997
Moynihan urged submitting all schools to be designed at the outset
Poinelli and Kennedy also advocated the whole project approach In
doing this a "Let 's try to really solve the problem, " attitude was
recommended Kelley and Bruckman commented on the benefit of the
Thursday morning "all town building committee" meetings (to be Wednesday
in the coming week) as an avenue for communication
A finalization of square footage and dollar estimates will be needed
In this process, the downward revision of the final space requirements
for elementary schools is in progress by HMFH; the level of confidence
on middle schools may be boosted in next Tuesday's meeting Questioned
if the high school space requirements were sufficient PBC members
agreed around the room that plans should not be shown The committee
pondered how to evaluate what is really needed as relates to what the
state insists on and what are maybe items that the state could
reimburse Admitted that there are some subjective elements in these
judgments In arriving at rule-of-thumb estimates , about 10 percent was
deemed needed for design work
A missing element in amounts so far discussed site issues , that would
make a difference in scope of work Poinelli clarified the difference
between Archetype and BFC estimates project costs were lopped off the
BFC numbers (30 percent) Kennedy advised that the PBC should not try
to reconcile with the BFC report Advocacy should focus on the
project ' s pragmatic approach to addressing the town' s enrollment swell
with a state-reimbursable project
Recommended that the PBC consult a professional estimator on its own
The cost estimator used by HMFH was Daedalus A highly respected
estimator, John Himmel , lives in Lexington and perhaps could help
Kelley offered to call him
Meeting adjourned at 11 53 a m until Tuesday, February 4
Respectfully submitted,J
C J lV/r e.P/44-ta—
Erna S Greene, Secretary