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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-09-23-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of Tuesday September 23 1997 Meeting at Clarke Middle School , as approved December 9, 1997 The meeting was called to order at 7 43 p m by Chairman Bruckman with other committee members Johnson, Poinelli and Touart , as well as owner's representative Fay DeAvignon present Also attending were Dawn McKenna and HMFH representatives Dorthea Hayes and Philip Lewis Handouts included packet of revised cost estimates including most cuts that had been identified as possible without jeopardizing the integrity or reimbursability of the project The only cuts that were excepted were replacement of water pipes at Estabrook, Diamond and the high school , due to age of the schools Thus the value of cuts subtracted is $5 384 million instead of $6 2 million The whole project cost is now $107 million for the project in one phase over seven years and $111 million for the project stretched into two phases over ten years The proposal of build a new Diamond Middle School to make available the present Diamond as swing space throughout the project has been presented to the School Committee and also mentioned at the Selectmen' s meeting Another handout was Fay DeAvignon's notes taken at the last Thursday morning's meeting with Joanne Hennessey of Diamond Middle School More on Diamond The proposed new school would have to be 129,000 square feet plus allowable SPED and community spaces , according to HMFH architect Concern was expressed that the space and number of rooms devoted to science labs was more than the SBAB allows , but this dis- crepancy was not considered a real stumbling block by the architects However, the cost of a new Diamond could be as much as $22 5 million Another meeting at Diamond with Hayes , DeAvignon and Hennessey took place Monday afternoon At this time Hennessey again advocated for her favorite sketch (Plan A) that showed the addition in the area of the school 's administrative offices This whole matter may become moot if a new Diamond should be approved Phases I and II The School Committee will make a decision this evening about how to package the project - Option A as a whole or Option B in two phases VOTED by the PBC to back the project in two phases For Diamond a conceptual site plan would be needed Architect Lewis said that a plan from one of his firm's past projects (that was deemed reimbursable by SBAB) could be placed upon a gross site plan Archi- tects were instructed to stop work on renovations for Diamond Clarke has been moved to Phase II because it has enough space now Phase I is now proposed to contain the high school , Diamond, Harrington and Hastings , the schools with the greatest population pressure and needs for expansion Thus Phase II would include Clarke, Bowman, Bridge, Estabrook and Fiske A revised plan for Fiske was displayed by the architects It shows a somewhat relocated (not closed) wing for kindergartens and music room as well as infilled space for a learning center and addition to the cafeteria The main entrance has been moved around the corner into the small courtyard facing the driveway to East Street This plan was received favorably and APPROVED by the PBC PBC Minutes of 9/23/97 - Page 2 A tour of several schools , beginning and ending at the high school will be conducted by Bruckman and Johnson for Selectmen Busa and McSweeney They will be met by representatives of HMFH and TMP engineers The meeting adjourned to the Clarke auditorium where the School Commit- tee was meeting shortly after 9 p m At this meeting the phasing was explained and questions regarding the building program were answered Questions were raised about why a new Diamond was being proposed PBC members answered in terms of age of the building and problems of site limitations for locating any addition The new Diamond proposal raised some objections and questions from the audience, among them, "Will the new building be attractive " PBC answered by expressing their con- fidence in the architects ' ability to create and good-looking building The School Committee voted to support the project in two phases The meeting concluded with notice of forthcoming meetings in preparation for the October 20 Special Town Meeting The Selectmen' s dinner meeting of Monday, September 29, public information meetings Saturday, October 4, at 10 a m and October 8 at Diamond Middle School at 7 30 p m The meeting adjourned at 10 14 p m Respectfully submitted, Erna S Greene Secretary pi