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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-09-18-PBC-min-AM.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of Thursday September 18 1997 Meeting in Room 111, Town Office Building, as approved December 9, 1997 The meeting was called to order at 8 00 a m by Chairman Bruckman with other committee members Johnson, Kelley, Poinelli and Touart , as well as project manager Faye D'Avignon and ( later) Director of School Building Operation John Moynihan present Also attending were Diamond Middle School Principal Joanne Hennessey and Dawn McKenna Also present was Dorthea Hayes of HMFH Hennessey's concerns on the design of new wins were described by her as principally traffic and secondarily security She noted that as many as 300 students would be passing the gym-new wing hall intersection and that a large part of the school ' s security worries center on the gym locker room In the present building this concern has been dealt with by limiting traffic in the area Hayes suggested possible internal changes such as widening the hallway, and committee members offered to plan for low-traffic classrooms in the area Another possible proposal , to move the school ' s office to that area did not meet a favorable response from Hennessey Early in the discussion committee members explained that the addition would be adding 30 percent to the school 's square footage Hennessey injected the idea that it would be advantageous to have a separated area devoted to the sixth grade However, she admitted that it was a notion brought to her attention by parents and that she did not hold strong, firm commitment to it Poinelli and other committee members described the process by which the decision on the new wing' s location was reached They emphasized the severe limitations of the site due to property lines , residential neighbors and, to a large extent , wetlands "The footprint of the building will not change, " Chairman Bruckman pronounced PBC members pointed out that the interior use and configuration is not now set and that Hennessey's input will be heeded After Hennessey departed, the committee concluded that interior adjustments will be made if possible in the next one to two weeks Hayes offered to meet with the Diamond staff , along with Project Manager DeAvignon Approval VOTED for $886,000 invoice from HMFH for 95 percent of schema- tic design Plans for phasing of packages to be presented to the town bodies have been proposed by the school administration The School Committee will not vote on this option until Tuesday, September 23 D'Avignon was asked to provide cost information on how much more it might cost the town in terms of project costs to split the entire project into two parts Committee will weigh in favor of doing the whole project Moynihan stated that about $3 million of capital expenses would have to be requested if the whole project is not approved Replace Diamond with a new school? This question was raised by Johnson F to help solve Diamond' s many problems , provide swing space, and cut PBC Minutes of 9/18/97 - Page 2 phasing expenses Cost roughly estimated would be $18 to $20 million for a new school , and most recent estimates for renovations and addi- tions at Diamond are approaching 17 million Hayes was asked to provide information if a school of the required square footage could be built on the Diamond site without demolishing the present school To minimize footprint impact it would have to be two or three stories high Review of identified cuts as compiled on a list by HMFH was requested by Hayes The first on the list , whether underground runoff detention would actually be needed, will be known on Monday Confirmed that the Clarke locker room should not be reconfigured ( leaving the shower area as is) Net partitions at the Clarke gym would be the only ad-on the list , since existing movable walls would have to be removed before installing the new net partitions Net partitions were also requested, as the present walls will not continue working for 30 years , according to Moynihan Also at the high school , canopies will be eliminated or shortened to save money Among other cuts were the minimizing of replacements of tack and marking boards and reduction of high school field house renovations , except for replacement of lights and sound system VOTED to confirm cost cuts as reviewed Still deferred were decisions regarding replacement of oil heating with gas burners , pending cost information from the gas company However, this decision would not provide a significant change in cost Meeting adjourned at 9 50 a m until 7 30 p m this evening Respectfully submitted, Erna S Greene, Secretary