HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-11-19-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE
Minutes of Tuesday November 19 2002 meeting in the Fiske School cafeteria.
The meeting was called to order at 7 15 p.m. by PBC member Poinelli with other PBC members
Creager(also Design Advisory Committee member), Johnson, Kelley (later,) Sperandio and
Touart present. Also attending were School Committee member Tony Close, Design Advisory
Committee members John Frey Barbara Hulsizer, Carl Oldenburg (also PBC member for the
library), Olga Voronina and Betsy Whitman Others attending included Selectman Dawn
McKenna, Fiske School principal Paul Foley, TLCR architects Todd Lee, Elizabeth Leidy Carol
Marsh and Santiago Rozas. Also present were Fiske School constituents Aaron Clayton, Desire
Memery, Tom O'Brien and Janet Tiampo. Attending Harrington School constituents included
Judy Crocker with her young daughter and Denis Kefallinos.
Items distributed included the following:
Agenda for this evening s meeting
Daedalus 20-page detailed estimate for Fiske School based upon 50 to 60 percent DD
Fiske budget summary derived from above Daedalus report
Letter from SAR engineers to Todd Lee (not distributed but picked up from the table).
Consideration of heat pump and eeothermal option began with a quick report on last Friday's trip
to the Hasting School in Westborough. Three of four PBC members and school staff members
attended the tour, including a person who would be maintaining a school heating system in
Lexington. It was reported that the Hasting school heating system is arranged in reverse of what
is planned for the Harrington School. In Westborough all the heat pumps are centrally located in
one room, whereas at Harrington, pumps, condensers and air-handling equipment would be
individually placed in proximity but not inside each classroom. Lee described a geothermal well
as a well with very little water in an enclosed system. Although the well may be of some width
to begin with, it would be a very narrow shaft after it hits bedrock. The quoted cost for five wells
plus a spare was estimated to cost$250,000 Lee stated, reading from the letter and attached
report he had received from SAR Engineering just before leaving his office to come to this
meeting.
Another tour is to be held in the coming week to an SAR-designed office building in Lexington
that is arranged with individually located heat pumps as would be planned for the Harrington.
Denis Kefallinos agreed to organize and arrange for this Lexington tour Poinelli recommended
that a user/maintenance person attend.
Fiske cost estimates were distributed by Rozas, who explained that the increase in kitchen
capacity and costs for demolition and a larger full-size gymnasium had pushed the price to about
$400,000 above the $16 million budgeted by Town Meeting appropriation. He suggested that
one way to cut down on the overrun would be to squeeze space. If construction begins in June
2003, Harrington should be done in 16 months. Fiske demolition could begin as soon as the old
PBC minutes of Tuesday, November 19 2002 -page 2
Harrington swing school can be occupied or when new Harrington completion is firmly
predicted. Possibly new Fiske construction could begin in September 2004
Fiske elevation design drawings and small model were viewed informally prior to a more
detailed discussion of design styles and elements. Architects requested that the terms `Colony
Road side"be used instead of"back" and that Adams Street side' be used instead of `front"
Drawings suggesting traditional or contemporary elevations and varying entrance designs were
shown. Noted that the windows of the central building segment were narrower than the windows
in the two classroom pods that branch on both sides. Single hung windows with only the bottom
central section operable are designed. Opposite opinions were expressed about the architects'
intent to create facade interest through varying materials and patterns. Architects attempted to
extract a meeting sentiment.
Harrington School schematic design annroval must be voted by the School Committee at their
next meeting, member Tony Close emphasized, so that the proposal can be submitted December
1 to the School Building Assistance program by December 1 PBC members will attend and
participate in that SC meeting next Tuesday, November 26. Architects noted that their work had
already progressed 'far beyond' the schematyics required by the state, who are requiring a record
of the School Committee vote. Some Fiske discussion may also happen.
The PBC planned meetings for next three Tuesdays, through December 10 requisition meeting at
the construction trailer. The meeting recessed briefly while Fiske School constituents exited, and
meeting continued with architects, PBC and Close at 9:23 p.m.
PBC and School Committee concerns about costs of schools and program changes were aired,
with both Close and the PBC concerned about cost inflation as the Harrington and Fiske projects
progress. Most salient examples are the increased size and planned functions of the elementary
school kitchens, after the high school kitchen was designed and built to cook meals for all the
other schools in town. $250,000 of the $400,000 additional costs of the Fiske school are for the
kitchen change driven mostly by the school department's switch to a new food
vendor/concessionaire. School Committee requests that they be informed of any plan changes
that might affect the educational program, while the Permanent Building Committee commented
that some requests for changes, such as for enlarged gymnasiums, came too late in the planning
process to be included in the Harrington School. In general, it seemed that communication lines
need improvement. Chairman Kelley called for the architects to tighten the budget for the
building and provide recommendations for items to be on the add-alternate list.
Meeting adjourned at 10:23 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, 64�d✓c� 2E1 , 4:_e_e///GIs1„. Erna S. Greene, Secretary