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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-01-24-CCAC-minaas uoakiac . s q` TOWN OF LEXINGTON Ad hoc Community Center Advisory Committee (AhCCAC) DATE: January 24, 2014 FROM: Michelle Ciccolo, Chair, AhCCAC TO: Lexington Board of Selectmen SUBJECT: Status Report, with Recommendations Regarding Future Phased Build -out of the Lexington Community Center AhCCAC MEMBERS: Michelle Ciccolo, Chair; Linda Vine, Staff Vice Chair, ex -officio; Mary Ellen Alessandro; Elizabeth Borghesani; Harry Forsdick; Jonathan Himmel; Laura Hussong; Florence Koplow; Leslie Zales. For your reference, prior presentations before your Board, relative to the work of this Committee, have occurred on September 23, 2013, October 17, 2013, and on December 16, 2013. This report is a further refinement of our recommendations made at the December meeting, and incorporates specific Selectmen suggestions made that evening along with direction provided to the Committee through the Board's liaisons. We understand there are many competing needs for capital funding requiring the Town's attention, and this limits the immediate availability of funding for future Community Center phases. For this reason, we are now proceeding forward with the Phase 1 design with the assumption that Phase 2 may be several years away. Furthermore, many have expressed the view that it would be helpful to occupy the new center for a year or so to gain experience in participation rates and demand. Some area community centers and senior centers have seen exponential growth in citizen participation once new facilities have opened. Observing and documenting demand at our new facility will help us properly size the Phase 2 expansion the Town might seek to pursue in the future. We remain committed to our full vision of the Lexington Community Center. Important to achieving this vision is the reminder of our mission: To enhance the quality of life for all Lexington residents by creating a warm, welcoming, and inclusive environment. Functionally, to achieve this mission, we believe the facility should ultimately include a large multi- purpose banquet room (seating 250 or more) with a commercial kitchen, and a regulation sized gymnasium. We have not yet had a chance to evaluate what, if anything, can be done with the Carriage House building, and expect to have recommendations to your Board on that, once Steffan Bradley Architects (SBA) and the Committee have reviewed options for that portion of the site. At the December presentation, we acknowledged the deficiencies of the multipurpose room resulting from the desire to preserve the existing bathrooms in their current location and not undergo major structural modifications to that portion of the building. That prior plan depicted an L-shaped room that would have compromised circulation, functioning, and audio-visual presentations of the room when fully occupied. At the suggestion of the Board, and in light of the probable timing of funding for Phase 2, we revisited the layout of this area and will provide a revised drawing for the board to view. This revised layout now provides for a rectangular floor -plan and increases seating capacity from 80 to 100 in a banquet -style seating arrangement. When the banquet tables are moved aside, this rectilinear space will also be more suitable for large assemblies or activities like light, senior exercise or dancing. However, after relocating the bathrooms, and providing space needed to process the meals -on -wheels program, the multipurpose room could not accommodate a commercial kitchen, nor the ultimately desired 250+ person seating. Nonetheless, we think this is a great improvement on the prior floor plan and essential to include, given it may be several years before we can bring the larger multipurpose facility on-line. There are additional costs associated with moving the bathrooms, the structural sheer walls, and building the basic kitchen that are included in the updated cost figures that will soon be provided to the Board [Note: The kitchen equipment, while shown as a line item in the budget, is not included in the cost figures]. There will also be a minimal delay in bidding of the project while these new changes are incorporated. The Phase 1 project is now expected to be bid on March 5, 2014, and occupancy of the building is projected for mid December of this year. Because the original direction we had been given was to expedite occupancy and to defer improvements that may change in Phase 2, earlier plans for this facility did not assume a comprehensive upgrade to the mechanical systems beyond basic improvements and code compliance. The strategy and belief at the start of the project was that the Town would be better off waiting to size HVAC equipment until the square footage of the anticipated expansion was known. Thus, the idea was to size the major HVAC units to accommodate future build -out. Under these assumptions, such HVAC improvements were originally anticipated to be incorporated into Phase 2. Now that the Phase 2 expansion timeline is uncertain, it seems more prudent to go ahead and upgrade the HVAC systems to meet the current needs of the Phase 1. We recommend, that funding for that work, now being referred to as Phase 1B, be sought at the 2014 Annual Town Meeting. Phase 1A: Increased scope beyond the previously approved Phase 1 scope We are now recommending that a Phase 1 A supplement be considered for funding at the March 24, 2014, Special Town Meeting. An amendment to the scope of the original October 2013 construction article may be necessary to allow for an expanded HVAC design. This Phase I supplement incorporates the following elements: Phase 1B: • Cost increases resulting from the modification of the multipurpose room (e.g. moving the bathrooms; and accommodating removal of the sheer wall) • Cost increases revealed during the further refinement of the plans • Additional furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) as required to be able to deliver the desired program • The potential for accelerated and expanded HVAC design and construction (extent to be decided) if that is determined to be desirable at this stage (Hard and Soft Costs to enhance ventilation, improve air quality, and increase energy efficiency.) The purpose of this expanded scope is to do anticipatory work in program space so disruptions will be minimized when the balance of the HVAC scope is accomplished in Phase 1B. The SBA team is working diligently to help us understand this issue and will complete the preliminary work in next few weeks. • Construction of the sidewalk to implement the design that was funded by the Fall 2013 Special Town Meeting Building envelope extraordinary repairs not incorporated in the original Phase 1 A cost estimate. There are several examples of separation and delaminating of the metal panel system installed around the windows in the 2000 addition. Design through construction documents, and then the construction funding for the HVAC upgrades (or the balance of the upgrades if the portions are pre -positioned under Phase 1A) to provide enhanced ventilation, improved air quality, and to increase energy efficiency Design of site work improvements including building egress modifications to provide accessible routes exiting from the mansion and around the grounds, parking and transportation modifications if necessary, and any additional vehicular access modifications that may be required. Regarding the Master Plan/Schematics prepared by SBA for Phase 2, it is still highly preliminary for us to project how to break out the future expansion into appropriate phases. Nonetheless, there are some important factors we think worth noting. Below are a set of considerations which should be evaluated when making phasing decisions: • Both the gym and the multipurpose facility will likely need to be funded by the General Fund through either and/or borrowing. It appears that few, if any, elements of these building expansion parts will be eligible under the Community Preservation Act as they will be built outside the existing building footprint. This makes it less likely that both the gym and multipurpose facility will be able to be built in one phase due to the Town's fiscal constraints. • If the gym is built first, along with the commercial kitchen to allow large functions, and the multipurpose facility is built second, then the food service would have to be brought up in a dumb waiter to get to the multipurpose room (built later) — a very poor arrangement. This point requires reference to the Phase 2 Sketch Plans (on the Town's Website under CCAC) which show that the gym will sit lower than the multipurpose facility, at grade with the present building's basement. Locker rooms and the kitchen would be at this same level in order to service the gym. • If the multipurpose facility is built first, the commercial kitchen can be located adjacent to the banquet facility at grade with the parking lot easily accessible to where food is actually being served, in a far superior location for the kitchen. • Many fitness activities can actually take place in a multipurpose facility such as dance, yoga, aerobics, tai chi, etc. However, other activities necessitate a gym such as basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball, and other sports requiring regulation sized courts. • There is no place in Town for a large public banquet seating more than 140 people in one space (Battin Hall at 2,100 sq. ft. can seat around 140 but presently lacks parking and kitchen facilities). This obviously forces functions larger than 140 to seek other facilities for the time being. • Based on the knowledge gathered by the Community Center Task Force prior to this Committee, it appears that an on-site gym is an essential component of a successful teen center. • A gym, and the opportunities it opens up for a wide variety of activities is a central component of our vision for this Community Center for its obvious ability to serve all ages and this remains a frequently requested feature the public wishes to see incorporated in an expansion. The Committee wholeheartedly believes that an expansion of the present facility will be needed in the near future. Most active community centers will often run multiple large programs simultaneously. Having a large multipurpose facility and/or a gym with a divider will help provide both the large function space, and the multiple large rooms the Town will need to run the comprehensive programs the Town envisions. We know today's Senior Center often is over subscribed for its large events and people have to be turned away. While the Phase 1 multipurpose room will have a slightly larger banquet seating capacity than Muzzey (100 vs. 80), we are transitioning from a Senior Center for one age group to a Community Center for all ages, and we are expecting tremendous growth in the senior demographic group as baby - boomers age. If Lexington's Community Center experiences the same uptick in participation rates that other communities have experienced when they built new facilities, we may need to prepare for 3 times the number of participants than we have today. We also know many groups from the PTAs to the cultural organizations are looking for banquet seating in excess of 250 people in Town. While many have expressed the desire to put a teen center into the Carriage House, this building has not yet been evaluated. Once the SBA team provides us with a greater understanding of that facility, we will be in a better position to recommend whether or not a teen center could go there. In conclusion, we are asking the Selectmen to consider the following course of action: • Develop two Warrant articles for the Special Town Meeting to o Supplement the previous Phase 1 scope (which we are referencing as Phase I funding) appropriation, and potentially to expand the previously approved scope of Phase 1 to incorporate that which is discussed as Phase 1B above. • Develop a Warrant article, for the Annual Town Meeting, that would allow for construction of a new sidewalk and design development and construction documents for Phase 1B scope of work for the above purposes. (In the future we anticipate we will likely be asking that the Selectman support a Phase 1 C for the construction of the items beyond the sidewalk contained in Phase 1B.) 4 Phase 2 Study - Option 3 Two Level Program at West Site Final Phase • Multim-purpose Facility is built later with with service by dumbwaiter (or relocate kitchen near multipurpose facility) CONSIDERATIONS: - Dumbwaiter service required Lower Level/parking access Courtyard defined — accessed at Lower Level Upper level observation to gymnasium Gymnasium & locker ,rooms at lower level Existing Parking 80 spaces Required Parking 72 spaces (per zoning) Parking shown for this option 72 spaces Required Setback 25' Min. Full -Court Gym Multi-purpose Greenhouse 17 LEXINGTON COMMUNITY CENTER — January 8, 2014 Steffian Bradley Architects United States , United Kingdom , Canada - China