TOWN OF ARLINGTON
MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
PERMANENT TOWN BUILDING COMMITTEE
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2003
PRESENT: Robert Juusola, Chair (Pro tem) *Suzanne Owayda
*Kathleen Donovan John Sanchez
ABSENT: Thomas Caccavaro William Shea
John Cole Charles Stretton
Nancy Galkowski
Please note the absence of a quorum.
*Ms. Donovan and Ms. Owayda were only present for a portion of the meeting.
PARTICIPANTS: David Kale (present for a portion of meeting)
Alan Brown, Principal – Stratton School
Robert Lynch, Principal – Dallin School
Bob Bell, Joseph Drown, Walter Jacob, David Finney – Design Partnership of
Cambridge Inc.
Stefan Chaires, DRA
CALL TO ORDER: 6:30 p.m.
STRATTON & THOMPSON DESIGN REVIEW – DPC
Due to the absence of a quorum, tonight’s review of the school building plans was for discussion only.
- Status of the Thompson & Stratton design submittals to the state – According to Ms. Donovan, a directive was received today from the Department of Education listing all the cities/towns being considered for submittal to the School Building Assistance Bureau in June of 2003. Arlington was not included on that list. Any community not listed (Arlington) will not be considered for submittal. In addition, it was Ms. Donovan’s understanding that there will be a change coming in the SBA rules and regulations which will result in a revision of the SBA submittal process. Due to this latest development, Mr. Drown felt that it would
be fine if the town chose to do the deferred submittal process for the Thompson and Stratton school building projects (rather than the full submittal) as per the original contract. It was the consensus of those present this evening to complete the plans to the schematic design level and to put the process on hold until the new SBA rules are made known. Ms. Donovan felt that it would be better not to address these projects before Town Meeting until such time as the projects could be presented with the revised information from the state. She suggested that the committee be polled on the matter upon the return of the Chairman.
- Flooding issue raised by abutter - Mr. Drown reported that the landscape consultant had responded to questions raised by a Stratton abutter at the last PTBC meeting with respect to flooding caused by park ground water that is not properly draining. He reported that, within the limits of the site work, they could alleviate water coming out of the parks. They will incorporate this issue into the design.
- Massachusetts Technical Collaborative Grant – Mr. Walter Jacob reported on the status of the MTC Feasibility Study and Schedule (copy distributed to PTBC) for Thompson. The Mass-CHPS (Mass. Edition of the Collaborative for High Performance School guidelines) analysis is in final draft form. Once this report is finalized, recommendations can be made with regard to some of the Mass-CHPS initiatives to identify and determine if the committee is interested in doing a further study of those initiatives. Mr. Jacob noted that the results of this report could be applied to the Stratton and to other town projects as well. Four copies of the
Mass-CHPS report were distributed. In conclusion, Mr. Jacob reported that the town did not receive the design and construction grant. At the next meeting, he should have the complete Mass-CHPS study on wind power and photovoltaic power.
- Thompson & Stratton Design Developments – Mr. Bob Bell reviewed the design development for both projects.
o Thompson –
§ Principal, Mike McCabe, prefers the location of the administrative area on the original scheme “A.”
§ Exterior elevations have not changed a lot.
§ Masonry color options and materials for the sloped roof will be explored.
§ Mr. Juusola suggested that the architect keep working on the elevations (cafeteria/library/gymnasium windows).
o Stratton
§ Mr. Bell reviewed the current plan “A” and options “B” and “C.” Plan “B” seemed to be the focus of the discussion.
§ After some discussion of various options for the architect to consider for the design, Mr. Juusola felt the process was proceeding in the right direction.
DALLIN SCHOOL – ALTERNATES
- Mr. Chaires distributed a list of potential add or deduct alternates for the project. The cost estimator is currently reviewing progress submission. Mr. Chaires expects to have more information on April 21st from his estimator that will allow for more discussion of possible alternates at the next meeting.
NEXT MEETING
- A meeting will be scheduled for next Tuesday, April 22nd at 7:30 p.m. Included on the agenda will be the vote for the Stratton and Thompson designs and Sustainable Arlington’s green building warrant article.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Marie Carroll
| 
