Belmont Middle And High School Is … On Budget!

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Photo: In the black

After two misses in which the budget for the new Belmont Middle and High School recorded deficits of $30 million in April and $19 million in late August, it was with a bit of trepidation for the school’s Building Committee to hear the final budget estimate from the design team during the committee’s meeting on Tuesday night, Nov. 5.

With the development at the benchmark 90 percent of all bids, the project design budget was announced as being … in the black by $300,000.

Whew!

“This is excellent,” said Bill Lovallo, chair of the committee which this Friday will send a dense binder holding all of the project’s 1,300 drawings and financials to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is partnering with the town on constructing the $295.2 million, 451,575 square foot school.

“Our final estimated check says that we are on budget,” he told the committee, noting that the final figure was the average of three estimations from each of the design team; architect Perkins+Will, general contractor Skanska and owner’s project manager Daedalus.

Lovallo said he is confident that the remaining contingency funds – about $10 million – will protect the project against escalating costs or construction overruns. He also said that the design team is receiving an interest in the number of firms interested in bidding on the project.

With the budget appearing stabilized, the committee will return in two weeks to discuss possibly bringing back approximately a dozen or so items trimmed during the earlier value engineering dubbed the bid alternative process.

“We want a mechanism by which when we bid and the price has come in a little higher than we expected we have the ability to accept the bids and if they come in a little lower than expected, we could make adjustments to add things that we took out at 60 percent,” said Lovallo, who noted that already Skanska is currently finding additional cost savings in the construction of the school’s facade.

At the Nov. 21 meeting (at 7:30 a.m. in the Belmont Art Gallery in the Homer Building), the committee will take a pared down list of items and rank each item in the committee’s preference of being returned to the building project, ie. the item selected number one will be the first added back with any additional funds.

It’s likely most items on the list will seem mundane – such as tiles and ceiling panels – but they have been identified by several committee members as important components to the educational goals and to the appearance of the school.

A popular item to bring back is the orchestra pit whose campaigners came out to support before the committee last month. Solar power advocates continued their public participation to hold the committee to earlier commitments to keep solar arrays in the building program, although Lovallo said the arrays will not be on the Nov. 21 list since it will likely one of the very last items bid in three years time.

Proposed Traffic Changes In Wellington Area Under Discussion at Public Meeting

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Photo: Map of changes being proposed in the Wellington neighborhood.

With the building of the Belmont Middle and High School well underway, the impact of the new building on a number of neighborhood streets will be significant. One area that have identified were traffic and transportation challenges will occur are those streets adjacent to the Wellington Elementary School including School, Orchard, Goden.

The High School Traffic Working Group is hosting a public meeting on Thursday night, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to discuss a proposed trial period of recommended changes to traffic patterns. The recommendations by the group are:

  • Create a one-way section of Goden Street between School and Orchard, allowing the intersection of Goden and School to be squared up instead of offset.
  • Create a four-way stop at Orchard and School streets.
  • Create a four-way stop at Orchard and Goden streets.
  • The pair of four-way stops are dependent on acceptance of the one-way on Goden.

The group’s consultant, BSC Group Consulting, will be at the meeting to explain the recommendations and answer questions.

High School Solar Panels Survive Value Engineering Cuts … This Time

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Photo:

The installation of solar panels on the roof of the new Belmont Middle and High School will stay on the builder’s “to do” list … for now.

While the photo-voltaic cells were spared in this round of cuts, the head of the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee said the group will return for a second and possibly third look at possible savings with an eye on big-ticket items that will likely include the solar panels.

At a civil but still contentious meeting held last week at the Belmont Gallery of Art, solar supporters including residents and many students clashed with several members of the building committee who the previous week advanced a plan using the $2.9 million set aside for roof solar arrays to close a $19 million deficit laid out in the second value engineering

After the previous meeting, the committee experienced push back on removing PV cells from environmentalists and local supporters of zero net energy. Before and during the early morning meeting last week, more than 50 residents and students came holding signs and distributing a fact sheet that contends solar arrays more than pays for itself by reducing energy costs by $170,000 annually.

Bill Lovallo

Committee Chair Bill Lovallo began last week’s meeting with an overview of the $295 million project reaching one of the committee’s goals of constructing a “high-performance building” that uses non-fossil fuel sources, innovated designs and automation resulting in the school being net-zero energy ready. Lovallo said even without PV panels, the building’s design that includes geothermal wells and other energy-efficient technologies, is “nothing like something that exists in Belmont … or what MSBA has in design now.”

But with the project’s budget set in stone, questions of what expense items are necessary to meet the teaching and learning mission of the school said Lovallo. And that may necessitate reducing the number of solar panels on the roof to save other items that residents are not advocating.

“I am for PV cells. We promised that. But we have to keep in mind that other costs are just as important,” said Lovallo.

Those campaigning to delay solar installation contend the move would close the deficit while preserving threatened educational programs such as classroom equipment and not scrimp on the quality of building material.

Bob McLaughlin

“We heard a lot about the promise that this building would have solar on the roof and that’s absolutely true,” said Bob McLaughlin, who spearheaded the drive to reinvest funds set aside for solar to restore interior items taken out. “But the mother of all promises, however, is that we will build a first class school and provide the best possible education experience.”

He believes panels can return as a post opening project which would be have the support of town meeting and will likely see a marked decrease in overall cost due to innovation and technological changes.

“There are so many things you have to do now [including tiles, flooring, and lighting]. And if they don’t get done now, they’ll never get done,” said McLaughlin. And solar’s $3 million can restore a great number of important items, he noted.

Ellen Schreiber

Committee member Ellen Schreiber countered McLaughlin’s suggestion of Town Meeting involvement as a step too far for taxpayers to take.

“I think that we have a pact that we made with the voters. And I think it’s very easy to say right now we’ll take that to [the meeting] because the next time we ask for something they won’t believe us,” she said.

Speaking in favor of retaining the panels in the construction budget, Belmont High senior Madeline Kitch – who helped bring out students to the first value engineering process in May and last week collected more than 200 signatures from high school students in support of the PV cells – said that “truthfully, I don’t have to be here. I refuse to believe that you don’t know the right choice because the very fact that you’re here is a demonstration of your investment in education and your investment in the future.”

“I can’t believe that you can’t see that the world is changing,” she told the committee. “In our time, we’re faced with incredible opportunities. We face decisions much like these, ones that dictate the lives of future generations who, I hope, will look back proudly and say to our faces about a vote much bigger than school and the community,” said Kitch.

Madeline Kitch

After the speeches and presentations the meeting moved the to the heart of the matter: examining 85 large expense line items selected by the building’s design team in which the committee either placed in the “it’s cut” category, the “under discussion” column and a subset of expenses which should be rebid in an attempt to generate more savings.

Many of the decisions had been determined during the first three value engineering meetings. Some were “easy” such as changing the base of the building from cement to masonry, reducing the ceiling finishes and casework in classrooms and simplify the audio playback system.

Others expenses that were “under discussion” were reconsidered such as removing skylights – it will now just be reduced in size – while town officials said they would reject the idea of trading asphalt curbing for granite.

By the end of the meeting, the arrays costs – having been separated into two line items totaling $1.2 million – were not touched. By the end of the meeting, the committee was within $150,000 to its goal of reducing the total cost by $19.2 million.

But Lovallo said discussions on PV cells and other large expense items will most likely be discussed in November as the Building Committee will conduct a third value engineering exercise, on 90 percent of its construction documents, which could reveal another shortfall, all at a time when the project’s contingency fund has been reduced from $19 million at the start of the project to about $7 million today.

Another area that the design team believes savings and be found is through the creation of a “relief valve” account which are accepted bid alternates of many big-ticket items.

But it’s likely that solar panels will be high on the list of expenses that will be forward to a “release valve” account which is a list of expenses that will be rebid. One example Lovallo suggested – to wide approval from the committee – is to remove the operable windows throughout the building “which we could do if the numbers are not looking good” with the budget. Another item could be the PV cells, either looking about both line items or just one while delaying the other.

In addition, the solar panels will be the final item put out to bid in 2023, said Lovallo, “so we have a long way to go to keep that money [in the budget] but there are a lot of things that are going to happen before then.”

Arrays Away? Move To Delay Solar Panels From New HS Project As Critics Seek To Prevent $3M In Cuts

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Photo: The Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee, residents and the design teams at the Sept. 20 meeting.

A move to eliminate the installation of solar arrays on the roof of the new high and middle school building currently under construction is gaining momentum as the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee is making tough cuts to save $19.2 million in cost overruns at the $295 million project.

The Sept. 20 gathering of the Building Committee was the third of four meetings dedicated to value engineering in an attempt to trim about nine percent of the anticipated expenses in the project. And the team select to find those savings – made up of the project’s design and construction teams; general contractor Skanska, architects Perkins+Will, and project manager Daedalus – came up with $19.5 million in both recommended cuts ($17.6 million) and those savings that needed further discussion ($1.9 million) before being removed from the budget. In addition, the team has pointed to nearly $6.4 million in expenses that could be rebid for possible additional savings.

The reduction in expenses are coming from the building’s exterior and interior, the systems, the site and structure and phasing and logistics. Some examples of the 70 items selected range from reducing the number the granite curbs on the site to the entrances and drop off locations ($101,100), electrical system savings ($105,000), simplify floor finishing and construction ($77,500) and reducing from two to one wall of marker boards in classrooms ($157,200).

As the committee members were discussing the design team’s recommendations on the possible cuts, committee member Bob McLaughlin interrupted the process to question why one of the largest expenses was not on the chopping block.

At $2.9 million, the photo-voltaic panel system – the solar panels on the building’s roof – is easily the costliest of big-ticket items up for consideration, which the design team said could be re-bid with the expectations that a new price tag for the panels would likely be in the $2.3 million range.

But even a reduction of $600,000 leaves too much in the budget, said McLaughlin. “We should take it away now,” said McLaughlin of the arrays. In McLaughlin’s view, the school’s first-class building was being downgraded to a second rate structure, calling it “a death by a thousand cuts.”

With the school’s expected life span of 50 years, it is incumbent that as much of the systems and interior designs be kept, said McLaughlin. If they are take off at this stage “we’ll never get a chance to [do bring it back in the future.]”

“I want these items we are giving up tonight back in,” said McLaughlin, referring to such expenditures as skylights in the high and middle school wings ($208,000 total) and wall tiles in the locker rooms ($157,300).

McLaughlin said he is not opposed to solar panels in fact, he believes by waiting three to five years after the building is opened would be financially advantageous. While most aspects of construction have been increasing in price in the past two decades, solar panels are seen a steady decrease in cost, dropping more than 60 percent between 2008 and 2018.

McLaughlin said after the meeting that the cost of $1.5 million for panels purchased in the mid-2020s which the town could purchase with a bond offering.

“Let’s bite the bullet now. Let’s take [the panels] off,” he said, recognizing the possibility of a political backlash with its move.

McLaughlin’s comments would be been a one-off sound off but for who joined his view.

Belmont’s chief educational official, Superintendent John Phelan, said “at the risk of sounding controversial” while he will be proud of a “green” school “but there is a priority list in my head … such as whiteboards which are teachable school programs that [the committee] said we would prioritize.”

And while having low operating costs in energy is an advantageous goal, by substituting lesser materials – in such places as flooring or stairs – the committee is creating long-term maintenance issues.

“We made a commitment to the town to build a quality school that will last a few years. There’s a lot of layers to that,” he said, adding that it’s good to have the conversation on items just as important as solar panels which has sizable support.

“There are other items that don’t have a constituency that really aren’t highlighted. No one talks about tiles on the first day.

‘An Awful Lot Of Money’

Phelan was followed immediately by Steve Dorrance, the town’s facility manager, who said that “no one is going to look up at the roof and say ‘don’t those PV panels look wonderful.”

“What you will do is walk through the school in five years and ask, ‘Why does the school looks the way that it does?’” Dorrance said, adding when the certainty of funding the retrofitting of the building goes before the public, “it will be a striking uphill fight.”

“It’s an awful lot of money that we can save now by putting back the $30,000 or $20,000 items. We can do a lot of those items for $3 million,” said Dorrance.

A possible removal of the panels would be a reversal of what the committee acknowledged was one of three main goals in designing the school was to construct a Net Zero Energy facility. In fact, during an initial value engineering discussion in May, the committee faced a roomful of solar supporters who demand the arrays be a priority and protected from cuts.

A small number of observers from the town’s Energy Committee and members of Sustainable Belmont attending last week’s meeting said the savings to the town – $5 million over 30 years – is well worth the upfront expense. They also pointed to town meeting votes that repeated supported a climate action plan that promotes solar and alternative energy in municipal structures.

Energy Committee’s Jacob Knowles said solar is a core element to the new school. He said the savings in energy costs could be used to fund the necessary maintenance to the building to keep the systems up to date.

“[Solar] is the smartest financial choice of the whole project with the most net cash flow relative to the investment on anything on this building,” said Knowles.

But two additional comments from committee members appeared to give the opponents to hold back on fitting solar panels during the school’s construction stage.

Town Administrator Patrice Garvin said since the building will either have arrays or not, the ultimate question is what is the annual cost difference between the school’s projected energy costs with and without the solar panels. With modern building controls, the latest window designs and other energy systems such as geothermal, the cost difference between the two outcomes could well be negligible to the committee members.

In addition, Committee chairman Bill Lovallo said the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is partnering with the town in constructing the school, has requested the building committee attend a review of the project expenses. “We are being sent to the principal’s office,’ said Lovallo, to explain the committee’s value engineering process.

Lovallo said the MSBA has a “hard and fast rule” that any expense reduction exercise at buildings under construction doesn’t compromise the schools educational program, a point reiterated by Phelan in his defense of discussing the delay of fitting the solar arrays on the school’s roof.

However the solar panel discussion is resolved, it will need to be concluded at the committee’s next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Thursday morning, Sept. 26, at 7:30 a.m. in the Homer Building.

“We have to make a decision on all these cuts [then],” said Lovallo.

Report: Turf Bests Grass For High School Field; See Why At Public Meeting Wed., Aug. 21

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Photo: A close up of the artificial turf at Harris Field.

A comprehensive “fact-based” report by a member of the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee recommends the group move forward with the construct of a new artificial turf ground known as the “Rugby Field” adjacent to the Wenner Field House.

The study’s conclusions will be featured in a grass vs. artificial turf discussion at a public meeting being held by the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

Authored by Robert “Bob” McLaughlin, the report concludes that turf’s greater capacity to withstand year-round use and the field’s location in a shady corner of the new school necessitates building a turf ground instead of a grass field.

While a growing number of Belmont residents and parents of students are raised concerns that turf fields are connected to serious health and safety issues including alleged increase in cancer rates for certain athletes, McLaughlin reported that independent research overwhelming concludes there are no proven detrimental health effects from playing on artificial fields.

The field, to be built in 2021, will be used by the state champion boys’ and girls’ rugby programs, as a practice and playing site for sub-varsity sports and for three-seasons of physical education classes.

The natural grass playing surface at Grove Street which includes a line of clovers.

The Building Committee’s Chair Bill Lavello said McLaughlin, and School Committee Member Katie Bowen will speak on the issue before the public comments on the findings.

In his 35-page report, McLaughlin started by stating the obvious: Belmont doesn’t have enough playing fields to meet the demands of school teams and the town’s recreational programs with grounds crowded with school and club teams year-round. Currently each town field is used on average 482 hours in the spring and 290 in the fall above the advised limit of 250 hours each season to avoid stress and deterioration.

The town has pointed out in the past the expense of maintaining a healthy football/soccer-sized grass field at upwards to $100,000 annually as well as the loss of playing space as natural surfaces need to be “put to bed” for the following playing season (in the spring if games are played during the fall) to allow the grass and top soil to recover.

The school district’s Athletic Director Jim Davis noted to McLaughlin that turf fields can be used more often, require less maintenance and can be used by many sports without a loss of field consistency.

McLaughlin points to “many … studies” suggesting turf fields can be used “three times” more than natural grass without the wear and tear placed on a nature surfaces.

“The flexibility and increased usage available with artificial turf is vital to maintaining an acceptable athletic program for the now-expanded grades 7-12 enrollment on our limited school campus,” McLaughlin said.

But it is alleged health concerns to young adults and children that prompted the committee to request the study. The report was commissioned in June after a group of residents questions the safety of artificial grass playing ground at the school and in town.

McLaughlin acknowledge the worries from residents and people that turf fields are allegedly linked to cancer threats from the rubber infill – the small round pellets known as crumb made of ground tires – used in the majority of the 13,000 synthetic athletics fields across the US.

Yet McLaughlin could not find any evidence “in the plethora of studies” he researched that links the infill – which McLaughlin noted contains known carcinogens – to increased cancer rates among players who use the turf fields.

He added that just last month, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a final report of a multi-agency study (dubbed the Federal Research Action Plan on Recycled Tire Crumb Used in Playing Fields and Playgrounds or FRAP) that concluded while chemicals are present in the crumb rubber, “human exposure appears to be limited on what is released in the air or simulated biological fluids.”

There are alternatives to rubber infill such as a cork and coconut mixture and quartz-based sand. Yet each has its own issues: the cork/coconut mix will “freeze” on the first fall frost and has a higher rate of abrasion injuries while field operators question whether commercial sand can stand up to a field under continuous use.

McLaughlin countered some of the health concerns by noting that physical activity during adolescence and early adulthood helping prevent cancer later in life and leading to a reduction in cardiovascular ailments.

While further studies assessing individual-level exposure is needed, [U]ntil then, however physical activity should be encouraged and promoted by year-round, weather resistant fields,” said McLaughlin.

Second, on the list of issues is elevated temperatures produced by a turf field, increasing temps 20 to 40 degrees F. Critics contend the super-hot grounds could prove a serious health condition especially for younger players.

Athletic Director Davis has informed town officials the “cushion” the turf lies on is coated white, which absorbs a great amount of the heat. Davis noted the overwhelming injury concerns at Harris Field are from possible concussions and ligament damage rather than heat. In addition, most high school practices occur after 3 p.m., once the hottest part of the day has passed.

Some residents who are opposed to artificial turf have expressed their goal of not just stopping the high school’s second turf field but also taking out the small field at the Wellington Elementary School and reverting Harris Field to natural grass when the current artificial turf is retired with the next decade.

Support for natural surfaces is growing around town. A few residents who attended a July public meeting on placing temporary lights at two town playing fields to support Belmont Youth Soccer said they would not allow their children to play high school sports due to the artificial turf surface.

Those health warnings associated with artificial turf prompted Connecticut legislators to sponsor a bill that would prohibit towns and school districts from installing new artificial fields. The measure remains in a legislative committee.

At a meeting last month, the Belmont Board of Health stated it may need to weight in on the matter.

It is not known if the Building Committee will vote after the discussion Wednesday on moving forward with a specific surface.