HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-11-04-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE
Minutes of Tuesday November 4 1997 Meetina in Room 105 , Town Office
Building, as approved November 25 , 1997
The meeting was called to order at 7 10 p m by Chairman Bruckman with
other committee members Johnson, Kelley, Poinelli and Touart , as well as
Director of School Building Operation John Moynihan and project manager
Fay DeAvignon present Also attending from HMFH were partners John
Miller and Mario Torella, and architects Dorthea Hayes and Philip Lewis
APPROVED were the following minutes as submitted
February 1 and 22 , 1997
July 1 , with designation changed to "notes , " as this was a
meeting called and run by the School Committee
August 21;
and the minutes of August 19, 1997 as amended
APPROVED were an invoice for the month of October for services of Fay
DeAvignon and a memorandum on status of finances for Design Development
from John Moynihan, who noted he would like to leave about $100 ,000 in
the account to cover possible legal fees
Schedule and how to set it debated, with School Committee input to be
sought after DeAvignon and the architects have worked up two or more
possible phasing scenarios for all four schools in Phase I of the total
project This will be done for the December 9 meeting, with weekly
intermediate progress reports to the PBC
HMFH schedule handout (on 11 x 14" paper) was questioned about the gap
between completion of design development and the beginning of construc-
tion documents for the middle schools and Harrington Moynihan ex-
pressed considerable concern that the high school schedule, which does
not contain a schedule gap still will not get under way until the very
end of summer 1998 Architects responded that a minimum of six months
are needed to prepare construction documents Will all four Phase I
schools be sufficiently far progressed to meet the June 1 submittal
deadline, committee members asked? Miller assured that all drawings and
plans would indeed answer the SBAB requirements , noting that his firm
has never experienced rejection of a proposed project Dates for 50
percent completion of progress drawings High School and Harrington
November 18 , Clarke December 2 and Diamond December 9
Hiah school peak nroiection query of last week was revisited and further
explained by the architects When planning for the schools first began,
only five-year projections were available During the second five years
of the ten-year projections , however, the high school population could
peak at 2 , 200 The architects commented that the 2 ,000-pupil school
could probably accommodate 10 percent more students for a few peak years
before school populations begin to decline, according to projections
Diamond Middle School entrance modification elevation sketches were
shown The depicted entrance tower, an echo of the library's , met with
committee disfavor, and the architects were asked to come up with
another idea that did not remind of leaky library or prison turrets
PBC Minutes of 11/4/97 - Page 2
Another problem at Diamond is a sanitary sewer that runs under the
narrow hall to the library and cafeteria, in front of the entrance to
the gymnasium The planned new wing would be on top of the sewer and
the trunk line would have to be moved to run outside the perimeter of
the building, and also outside the boundary of the wetland According
to the architects, the sewer is under town DPW jurisdiction
Clarke elevation drawinas and dramatic entrance canopy met with pleasur-
able committee response The tightness of the site will necessitate
obtaining a variance from the Board of Appeals The addition's roof
height will also figure into the consideration (see handout on Clarke
zoning code review) Plans for locker room reconfiguration (reusing,
repainting all existing lockers and providing new ones only for increase
population) showed equal facilities for boys and girls and private
showers for handicapped people The separate handicapped showers drew
questions Answered that handicapped people are likely
privacy of showering away from the hord to appreciate
ADA/handicapped facilities are to be further enhanced by adding an extra
elevator at each middle school to supplement current elevators in remote
locations Architects were advised to run their plans by Emily Silber-
berg, who has surveyed all town buildings for ADA compliance
Handouts on science rooms give prices and alternate configurations of
cabinets and tables at the middle and high schools More meetings are
to be held with the staff (set up through DeAvignon) to finalize
Poinelli pointed out that the current trend in all universities is
toward micro-scaling use of chemicals Less elaborate equipment would
be needed Those present reported the schools were not there yet
Hiah School staff feedback on plans now calls for three large teachers '
workrooms , rather than little cubby holes Three have been tentatively
located These are needed since no teacher has a "home" room desk
Rearrangement of space for these would actually add one classroom,
bringing the total number of high school classrooms up to 81
Forthcomina meetinas on schools include an informal meeting with two
Conservation Commission members Friday morning with Stacey Bridge of
Carol Johnson and a Building Needs Conference, now scheduled for Friday,
November 21 with John Moynihan and SBAB staff
Cary Library is scheduled to go before the Historic Districts Commission
on Thursday, November 6 A week earlier, on October 30 , at a meeting
with PBC members Johnson and Poinelli , abutter Douglass and Steve
Hurley, it was agreed that landscape architects for the library and for
Mrs Douglass would work together A joint library-PBC meeting is
tentatively scheduled for Thursday, November 13 (changed to Wednesday,
November 12 , at the Library) Among issues are ways to provide handi-
capped access at each of the two major public entrances , as ADA re-
quires A ramp at the rear could be as long as 70 feet
Meeting adjourned at 10 35 p m
Respectfully submitted, e Secretary