Date: Fri 17-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

school-project-council

Full Text:

Councill Reviews Rising School Project Costs

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The Board of Education and school administrators came to the Legislative

Council meeting Wednesday night to discuss the proposed high school and Hawley

School construction/renovation projects and to explain why the cost estimate

has escalated from about $20 million to $32 million.

The school architect, A.R. Malik of Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc., of New

Britain, also told the council what it would cost if the town decided to build

a new high school instead of expanding the existing one. He said that based on

building projects being done for other towns, a new 300,000 square foot high

school, designed for a student population of 1,600, would cost $43.5 million

not including land acquisition.

Converting the existing high school to a middle school would cost $11.9

million, including $3 million for code updates, $3.75 for renovations and $2

million for updates of the mechanical and electrical system, he said.

Changing the middle school - which originally was built as a high school - to

a 700-student elementary school would cost about $5 million, while converting

it into two smaller elementary schools would cost $8 million but would not be

practical, he concluded.

The estimates were prepared to be used as a comparison to the $28 million

which the board now believes would be needed to accomplish the base plan and

alternates that are being proposed for the high school.

School board chairman Herb Rosenthal explained that the original $18.9 million

estimate for the high school was prepared by a different architect, David

Chen, who proposed a wrap-around addition. This plan was not practical, Mr

Rosenthal said, and the cost of it probably had been underestimated.

When Kaestle Boos eventually was selected to as the school architect, a new

design was prepared and was based on new student enrollment projections which

added another 300 students. This increased the size of the addition from

60,000 square feet to 73,000 and required increased parking and other site

improvements.

The new addition would include classrooms, a larger library/media center,

science rooms, a lecture hall, kitchen and cafeteria.

By this time engineer studies also showed that more than $3.5 million also

would be needed for a new roof and replacement or upgrades of the building's

plumbing, ventilation, heating and electrical systems, Mr Rosenthal said.

"This brought the total cost to about $24 million, but state aid would result

in a net cost to the town of $16.4 million," he said.

The architects also included $3.7 million in possible alternates, including a

new half-size gym, locker room renovations, renovations to the industrial arts

area, conversion of the stadium's football field into a multi-purpose field

and construction of a wider eight-lane track. This would boost the project to

$27.9 million, with a net cost of $18.9 million, Mr Rosenthal said.

Council vice chairman Melissa Pilchard pointed out that the net cost did not

include the interest that the town would pay to finance the project over 20

years. Mr Rosenthal agreed, but added that 40 percent of the debt service also

would be reimbursed by the state.

Mr Rosenthal also explained that the original Hawley School plans also were

drawn by David Chen, who proposed a two-phase, $2 million-plus project with

handicapped renovations as part of the second phase. Increasing enrollment

forced the board to consider an addition to the school, however, and it became

more cost-efficient in the long run to do both phases at once, he said.

The total cost of the Hawley School project now stands at more than $3.8

million, but because about 90 to 95 percent of the project now would qualify

for state reimbursement, the net cost to the town would be $2.4 million, Mr

Rosenthal said.

Joseph McGowan, the chairman of the council's finance committee, said the

Board of Education "has been doing its homework. We haven't been doing ours."

"It's time that we tell the Board of Education what amount of debt we feel the

community can tolerate," he said.

The school officials said the town should make a concerted effort not to cut

corners which would result in substandard work. When the high school was built

in 1970, the town congratulated itself on paying the least per square foot of

any high school project in the state, they said, but wound up with poor

quality mechanical systems in the school.

Superintendent of Schools John Reed said the proposed projects are based on

both the existing needs and the anticipated growth in enrollment. He said

David Chen had asked for $55,000 to prepare the original master plan but the

district had only $30,000, so a less comprehensive plan resulted. But he

defended the school district's record on spending and its projections of

anticipated needs.

"You'd be hard pressed to find a district run as cost effectively as Newtown,"

he told the council. "In reality this planning has to be based on trust. I

hope the school system will have the same chance to take its request to the

community as the (Booth) library had," he said.

Mr Rosenthal said the timeline as envisioned for the high school project would

bring it to a referendum next March with construction to begin in May 1996.