August 2010
Current status of construction: Blasting to occur starting the week of August 9 to open up access from Hartley Road; questions about this should be directed to our project managers (contact info above). Topsoil will be moved off site to Applefield Farm and to town storage for future use. Blacksmith Shop successfully removed to Shelburne Farm and utility poles installed at former site.
General Contractor is P.J. Stella Construction of Wakefield. The total value of the contract is $23,640,900--approximately $5 million less than our original estimate, great news for the Town and taxpayers!
We will be posting monthly reports by our Project Manager which includes the construction timeline, budget status and other updates on the project. A folder can be found above with the most current (July). Any questions can be directed to either the Committee co-chairs or the Project Manager (CMS) office.
Approvals for the building project were received by Stow's Planning Board, Conservation Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals, as well as the Mass. Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs (MEPA - Mass. Enviromental Policy Act); all can be found under Misc. ESBC documents folder, above.
RECESS is an organization started to raise funds for the school building, which will offset the burden to the taxpayers. To follow their activities, learn how to donate, or join in their efforts, visit www.stowrecess.org
Above is a folder with the entire Project Scope & Budget agreement. The total document with exhibits is over 200 pages, so it's been broken down in units of no more than 30 pages each.
History of the school building project (some of this information is now outdated):
Article 1 passed at the Special Town Meeting October 19, 2009 by a vote of 684-71 and at the ballot on Oct 29 by 1069-374 (74%). Our project moves forward! The addition/renovation at Center School has a budget of $37.8 million; the MSBA ha awarded us a grant of just over $18 million which means Stow's portionis just under $20 million. The site plan document and "ESBC Public Hearing slides" will give you the most current information, including details about our price estimate.
The Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC)was assigned the task of moving forward on the proposal approved by the May 2007 Town Meeting for a renovation/addition at Center School.
We were put on a Regional Assessment list by the MSBA in the fall of 2007. We met with the MSBA on March 12, 2008 to discuss this designation as well as review where we are and where we hope to go (copy of presentation to the left). We learned that our reimbursement rate will be higher than projected originally (46% base). We learned in early April that we had been moved off the Regional Assessment list to Feasibility Study status.
The MSBA approved our Feasibility Study this summer which allows us to request partial reimbursement for the work done on the Master Plan (see on left) in 2007. The committee spent the summer working closely with our architects to take the concept developed two years ago into a real proposal, based on site and building research which informed our options. The Committee voted to move forward with what we called Option D (see to the left). Our design team, made up of Symmes Maini McKee Associates and our Project Manager from Construciton Monitoring Services took this design and developed preliminary plans which could be given to a cost estimator, as required by MSBA. An estimate of $38 million was approved by the ESBC on September 14 and is part of the proposal to be
reviewed by the MSBA at their September 30 Board meeting.
To best manage our time, we have designated various members of the committee as point people for particular topics of interest or in need of research. These are listed next to names above. In particular, we have started a fundraising committee, with the goal of offsetting the cost of the project to the taxpayers; the committee is led by Greta Morgan, and is looking for members: please contact one of the co-chairs if you are interested. We received our first grant in June from OAR/Intel for stormwater management of up to $400,000, thanks to the primary efforts of member Craig Martin.
In November, we hired Construction Monitoring Services Inc (CMS) of Marlboro as our Owner's Project Manager. We posted a RFS (Request for Services) for a Designer in January; the committee assigned three representatives to the MSBA's Design Review Board to make the decision on architects. Our first choice was to continue working with SMMA, who had been our architect during the conceptual phase leading up to the 2007 Town Meeting. With SMMA now on board again, we will move quickly to the feasibility study and schematic design. We hope to be able to bring a construction estimate to a special fall town meeting for approval.
On June 3, the MSBA Board voted to move Stow to Preferred Schematic Design, which means they've accepted our concept of an Addition/Renovation at Center School where all our elementary school children will be under one roof! The ESBC held two Sustainable Design Forums in June--slides are at left of page. Our timeline is to have design details ready for presentation to the MSBA at their September Board meeting; if they approve it, we will bring it to a Special Town Meeting, currently scheduled for October 19, for approval by residents.
Our current reimbursement rate has a floor of 43.1% but we hope to move that up to 51% taking advantage of incentive points offered by the MSBA. We will not have a cost estimate for the project until the design has been approved.
Please contact Ellen Sturgis, co-chair, if you have any questions. Our meetings will be posted at Town Building and on this website (see Calendar).
This webpage will continue to contain the documents created by the School Building Task Force (March 2006-May 2007) and the previous Building Committee, which disbanded in January 2006.
Charge of the Committee as approved by Selectmen in July 2007:
Duties: Direct and oversee the renovation and addition to the Center School, as recommended by the School Building Task Force and approved by the residents of Stow in May 2007. To include bringing a firm estimate of cost to Town Meeting for approval (expected May 2008*). To include hiring design services, contractor and other professionals as required. The Committee shall use the final report of the School Building Task Force as well as the Stow Schools Master Plan in their work. Committee members will need to be versed in the requirements of the Mass. School Building Authority and ensure that the building project meets all the requirements for potential reimbursement.
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