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Home My WebLink About1997-02-15-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of Saturday February 15 1997 Meetina in School Administration Building, as approved February 22 , 1997 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bruckman at 8 10 a m with other committee members Himmel (notified verbally that the School Committee appointed him their representative at their last meeting) Johnson, Kelley, Poinelli and Touart present Also present were School Committee Chairman Peltz , Director of School Buildings Operation Moynihan and Dawn McKenna Dorothea Hayes and John Miller of HMFH appeared to discuss their report with the committee HMFH Master Plan and schematic drawings are now being completed according to findings and instructions from the PBC Work beyond the scope of the original contract with HMFH, such as incorporating some PBC recommendations and injecting code regulations into decisions, needs to be arranged Information, including reconciling with value engineering is needed through September design development for town meeting A dollar amount should be the outcome of design development Poinelli called for a "multi-phase scoping document , " with design development further clarifying the scope of the project In creating the cost model , two aims must be satisfied (1) addressing questions from the Board of Selectmen Poinelli ' s response to this was a one sheet chart to be filled out, and (2) satisfying all endorsable codes and "we have to do it" items from the Archetype report and current SBAB requirements The Selectmen and citizens will want to know what they are buying The I BFC report should be used as a reference point since it is what is most prominent in the town consciousness Miller noted that phasing could very much influence cost ; another concern is where to educate children (temporary facilities) during renovation/addition work He further described the phasing/funding relationship Grant requests are submitted June 1 and deemed "approvable" in a letter to the town; this grants the town ability to begin building and short-term borrowing, without need to repay the principal The actual grant may begin as long as five years after the project is deemed approvable The cost of providing temporary, portable spaces for displaced classes should be in the contract and is F reimbursable by the state Expenditure for new construction is far easier to estimate than renovation of existing buildings Value engineering will be needed for justification and attribution of each expenditure Peltz asked who would be qualified to justify the School Committee-planned programs and policies for special education, enrollment efficiencies and other programmatic content of schools as well as maintenance and operation of expanded spaces with those programs Space Requirements to meet increased enrollment considerations elicited a note from Moynihan that the schools are short of ten classrooms now The average ratio between professionals and students is spelled out in the teachers ' contract The PBC has requested a design parameter system-wide for 2900 elementary students In designing on a district by district basis of projections to the peak year 2001-2 , planned PBC Minutes of 2/15/97 - Page 2 adjustments of inner existing spaces have been minimized, Miller stated Himmel asked about how need for extra classrooms or school is being dealt with Noted that kindergarten rooms (for about 400 youngsters) are especially inflexible spaces while classrooms for grades 1 through 5 are more or less interchangeable, with a de facto average number of 22 children per class Instructions to HMFH John Miller said the schematic designs will have to address the scope of work and what could be added and subtracted Documentation and cost analysis will have to be the basis for public presentations To keep the project going until September, 1997 , further information would be needed, including the needs for each site and detailed costing and whatever else is needed to complete design development phase Phasing Bruckman suggested that more space should be added right away, then renovations should be done at the high school first How long should the project be stretched out? Two and a half to three years is about the limit for one contract, it was noted Debated about the content of the article for the 1997 Annual Town Meeting Contain provision for contract documents This is a political decision Whether debt exclusion should be proposed at this time was also discussed Moynihan agreed to inquire whether there is a need to modify the present contract with HMFH or other way to handle the need for design development services Miller added that anything beyond schematics is into design development In order to continue there would need to be an independent review or a full rebid I Still to be included in the nearly complete HMFH Master Plan are changes to the elementary level class size and number of needed classrooms First on the priority schedule should be the middle schools The committee is satisfied with the size of the planned additions and class size parameter HMFH told the committee that they now have about 80 hours work at the outside to complete the Master Plan in time for review at next Saturday's PBC meeting Review of Elementary School Plans Each elementary school will need one or two more classrooms than are now in the plan Locations of where additional space will be shown to be added, particularly at Bridge and Bowman was discussed At Estabrook, it was recommended that use of the entrance space by enclosure should be costed Where parking should be located was also aired At Fiske Himmel questioned length of corridor to egress and whether corridors could be connected in a loop Whether a two-story addition is feasible should be looked at again in terms of total cost to town, including operating cost of the building and town open space Would the existing building have to be torn down for it? HMFH was asked to prepare alternative plans For Hastings two-story additions and integrations of the four-classroom addition on the back was recommended For Diamond a two-story alternative plan was also recommended PBC PBC Minutes of 2/15/97 - Page 3 members expressed unhappiness with the library where is shown on the current schematics Johnson said he did not like the sketched addition and called for building "the right thing" Kelley expressed dissatisfaction with vehicular access from Hancock Street and he suggested building an addition around the auditorium Consolidating spaces and walking distances was recommended by Himmel , who also suggested ways to add floor space and library area Kelley pointed out that corridors have value At Clarke an independent entry was suggested for special education and community use A 10-15 percent extra per pupil space allowance should be for extra community use of the facility The High School needs a new entrance, along with much site work Muzzey Street entry should be closed off , and a new entrance drive could be cut from Worthen Road Relocations were suggested for the library, offices , early child education and the two commons areas Music rooms should remain near the auditorium where they now are, it was recommended Minutes of February 8 1997 were approved as submitted Meeting adjourned at 12 04 p m until Saturday, February 22 at 8 a m Respectfully submitted, Cilwa� .�✓oJ�ze�—� Erna S Greene, Secretary {