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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-06-27-ETF-min Estabrook School Access Ad Hoc Task Force Minutes of Meeting – Final & Approved June 27, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. Public Services Building Members in Attendance: Carl Valente, Dr. Paul Ash, Pat Goddard, Bill Hadley, Chief Mark Corr, Sandy Trach, Michelle Ciccolo, Harold Payson, Christian Boutwell, Ben Moroze, Richard Larrabee, Jim Brown, Ed LoTurco, Deb Mauger Those in attendance representing other Town committees: Sidewalk Committee - Bettina McGimsey, and Jerry Van Hook; Permanent Building Committee Jon Himmel The meeting was called to order at 6PM.  Introductions made of members, ex officio, staff, guests/residents in concern;  Necessary paperwork was distributed by Town Manager to all ETF members; needs to be signed and returned to TMO.  Discussion of Conflict of Interest Law;  Michelle Ciccolo handed out ETF Committee Charge; three charges reviewed: 1.Safe access during construction of the new Estabrook School by vehicular traffic of parents, faculty and construction vehicles, including pedestrians 2.Access for public safety (police and fire department) purposes after the new school is constructed and in use; and 3.Access necessary for safe access by students who walk to the school, school busses and parents/guardians dropping off or picking up students. The ETF was reminded that they are an advisory committee, charged with making recommendations to the School Committee and Board of Selectmen. These boards will then act upon and be responsible for making any final decisions. It was noted that the entire membership of the committee has not yet been determined and two members who do not reside within the Estabrook community have yet to be appointed. Bill Hadley noted that he received the report of traffic counts the morning of this meeting. Documentation was taken by Beta Group Engineering for one week between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. of arrivals, dismissals, walkers, half day Thursdays, and daily traffic. Counts were taken while school was still in session. Only the raw data is available thus far and no interpretation or analysis has yet to be performed. The ETF was provided with an overview of the architect selection process for the new building as it relates to the timing and determination of how the new building will be situated on the site. Dr. Ash said there is a Summit meeting scheduled 6/28/11 to discuss the timeline for the larger school project. It may be several months before the Town knows what the new school will look like schematically. The following details were noted:  Road improvements on the school site should be reimbursable by the MSBA; roadway changes off site will not likely be covered;  Although no designer is yet in place, this is not the first time architects have looked at this site; given that students will continue to occupy the building during construction, it will most likely require the new school to be built in the back on the open field;  Representative from Sidewalk Committee, present at the meeting stressed the importance of walking and biking routes to the new school  Town does not need to go out for bid for an engineering firm; DPW already has engineers under contract; specific tasks for the engineering firm can be reviewed by ETF committee.  Construction will likely take place spring 2013; access changes will likely need to be completed before that time; The ETF then reviewed the following documents:  ETF draft time line;  Draft Scope of Services handout reviewed by Bill Hadley. Matters of importance were the exploration of new alternative traffic access alignments into school property (considering existing street network, topography, parcel layouts and environmental constraints); and to summarize basic features of each alternative to facilitate comparisons (i.e. length of new roadway required, pros and cons to traffic, properties affected); The topic of data collection and the general drop off / pick up process was then discussed with the following comments and questions:  Traffic data collected will help to determine if there needs to be some other access road to the school during construction and then another access road when new school is completed; (determined these are two separate issues - access to school during construction and access once school is built);  Discussion on traffic counts and whether weather plays a part; weather was nice when data was taken. Sandy Trach noted rainy or snowy days are the worst (hill entering school causes major problems); but on nice day entire dismissal takes anywhere between 9 to 12 minutes;  Question on whether someone was stationed to watch traffic on Robinson Road; and whether there was a distinction between school traffic and resident traffic;  Noted the increase in bus fees has had an impact in drop off/pick up;  Conservation land/path may be impeded during construction; this may increase car traffic because there is no alternative pedestrian path;  Question if school will be of similar size/capacity; MSBA has not approved new school yet but they have approved roughly same size with 20% enrollment increase; The Chair requested comments and feedback on the draft scope of work within 4 days. It will then be forwarded to Beta Group Engineering for it to propose a fee for services. ETF will invite engineers to the next meeting to further discuss the Scope of Work and approach to the initial phase of engineering for this project. The meeting was adjourned at 7:33 pm.