Site Options Now Available on SBC website

The powerpoint presentation made by the architects at the January 13th SBC meeting is now available online in pdf format. Please note the file is large and takes awhile to download. It can be accessed by clicking on the link called "SMMA Community Presentations" at the right of this page, or by copying and pasting the following link into your browser:

http://www.aps1.net/archives/47/AndoverBancroft_SchoolCommitteeCommunityMeeting_13JAN2010.pdf

Agenda for January 13th SBC Meeting and Draft Traffic Study Scope

Below, a link to the agenda for the January 13th SBC Meeting, to be held at 6:00 pm in the School Committee Room, 36R Bartlet Street, 2nd floor above the Senior Center. Please note that the traffic consultant will arrive at 7:00 pm, so we will not discuss the traffic study prior to that time. (You will need to copy and paste the link into your browser)

http://www.aps1.net/archives/42/School%20Building%20Committee%201.13.10.pdf

In addition, a draft copy of the scope of the traffic study can be viewed by following the link below:

http://ma-andoverpublicschools.epoweredschools.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1015

Update from January 6th SBC Meeting

At its January 6th meeting, the School Building Committee discussed the geotechnical analysis that is currently being conducted by McArdle, Gannon Associates as part of the Feasibility Study. The objective of the geotechnical analysis is to explore subsurface conditions within the potential areas of development on the site to provide information on what kind of building foundations, construction slabs, and access route support may be needed in the scope of the building project. The results of this analysis will be available by early February. Please note that the architects said the results of the geotechnical study are unlikely to affect any decision on where the new school should be located on the site or where the access routes should be; they will simply provide information about what kind of foundation will be needed, what kinds of slabs will be necessary for construction purposes, etc.

A geo-environmental analyst will also be on site during this process to assess whether there are any hazardous chemicals present in the soil.

In addition, the team from Symmes, Maini, & McKee presented a draft matrix for the SBC to use in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each of the potential building site and design alternatives (front of existing building, rear of existing building, and current footprint). The matrix is broken down into a number of different evaluation categories, with various considerations listed under each category. This matrix is a draft and SBC members are currently working on proposing revisions to it in conjunction with SMMA.

Finally, SMMA showed some additional draft site concepts for the new school. One concept showed a footprint for the new school being built on top of the existing footprint. The others presented were 3-story versions of the 2-story footprints that were shown at the December 23rd meeting. All draft site concepts will be made available online for the community to review, hopefully by tomorrow (Monday, January 11th). As soon as they are available, I will post that information here.

Update and Upcoming School Building Committee Meetings

On December 23rd, the School Building Committee met with architects from Symmes, Maini, & McKee, as well as with Todd Brayton, a traffic consultant from Bryant Associates, to discuss the scope of the traffic analysis. Also in attendance were Lieutenant Todd Pomerleau of the Andover Fire Department and Public Safety Officer Charles Edgerly of the Andover Police. With input from the neighbors in attendance we discussed the parameters of the study, which will be designed to study both existing conditions as well as the impact of a student population of up to 700 on current school access roads, potential school access roads (Bancroft, West Knoll and Holt), surrounding roads, and intersections. Included in the data the traffic consultants will collect will be police data, accident data, neighbor’s comments, and interviews of staff (such as the crossing guard).

To date we have received a number of emails related to neighborhood traffic concerns; if you have any further concerns, input or specific information for the traffic analysts, please email the SBC (sbc@aps1.net). The traffic consultant will also be attending the School Building Committee meeting for continued discussion on January 13th (see below).

In addition to discussing the traffic analysis, the architect team from SMMA showed the Committee four draft site concepts for a new Bancroft based upon an enrollment of 620 K-5 students and 80 Pre-K students. These draft site concepts showed how a building footprint might look on the site, along with access, parking, and field/play areas. Two of the site concepts showed the footprint in front of the current school, and two of the concepts showed the footprint behind the current school. These concepts were meant as a step in a process for evaluating potential options, and did not represent specific footprint designs from which we must choose. The Committee asked SMMA to bring options at our next meeting (see below) to show site concepts that could be built on the existing footprint.

Upcoming Meetings:

January 6th @ 8:00 am--3rd Floor Conference Room, Old Town Hall
At this meeting we will review the geotechnical consultant proposal as well as additional site concepts

January 13th @ 6:00 pm--School Committee Room, 36R Barltet Street, second floor above the Senior Center
We have scheduled this evening meeting to accommodate those who find it difficult to attend morning meetings. Todd Bryant, the traffic analyst from Bryant Associates, will be in attendance for further discussion of the traffic study. In addition, there will be ample time for community input on the Feasibility Study.

School Committee Vote on Enrollment Number; Traffic Study

On Monday, December 14th, the School Committee by a 4-1 vote approved a total enrollment number of 700 for the new Bancroft School. This number reflects 620 K-5 students and 80 Pre-K students. Members voting in the majority felt that educationally, 700 was a number they were comfortable with; in terms of impact to the site, the majority expressed a desire to have the Feasibility Study process determine whether the site and neighborhood can accommodate a building with that number of students.

Going forward, it is important to note the following:

(1) The School Building Committee is now charged with determining what impact a building of 700 students will have on educational design options, on the environment, on traffic patterns, on infrastucture, and on the integrity of the surrounding neighborhood. If the impact is not acceptable, the enrollment number will have to be revisited by the School Committee. Therefore, it is very important that neighbors and abutters continue to engage in the Feasibility Study along with the Building Committee. We encourage you to “push back” at each step of the process so that every potential impact to the neighborhood is fully explored and understood.

(2) The School Committee enrollment decision does not make any of the three potential building locations--in front of the existing school, behind the existing school, and on top of the existing footprint--any more or less likely at this point.

Traffic Study

The firm that is performing our traffic analysis (Bryant Associates, www.bryant-engrs.com) has already begun collecting data; you may have seen some of their wires installed across Bancroft and Holt Roads. However, the Building Committee has not yet voted on the full scope of the traffic study because we are not yet satisfied that it covers everything we would like it to cover. To this end, at our next meeting on Wednesday morning, December 23rd (8:00 am, Selectmen's Room on the third floor of Town Offices), a representative from Bryant Associates will be in attendance so that we can talk through all the idiosyncracies of the various streets in the neighborhood, sight lines, traffic patterns, concerns about vehicle turning radius, seasonal concerns, weekend vs. weekday concerns, etc. It is very important that we feel certain that the scope of the traffic analysis is exhaustive, so we strongly encourage residents to attend to help inform this process. We will have a large map there to refer to. We also plan to schedule at least one additional meeting with Bryant Associates at another time to be determined.

School Committee Meeting Postponed to Monday, December 14th

The School Committee Meeting originally scheduled for Thursday, December 10th has been postponed to Monday, December 14th at 7:00 pm in the School Committee room, 36R Bartlet Street (second floor above the Senior Center). The agenda will remain the same as noted in the previous post below. Hope you can attend.

School Committee Meeting on Thursday, December 10th

The next School Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, December 10th beginning at 7:00 pm in the School Committee room (36R Bartlet Street, second floor above the Senior Center). The Bancroft Feasibility Study is scheduled to come up roughly midway through the agenda, around 8:30, but it is almost impossible to project exact times. The meeting agenda can be viewed by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

http://www.aps1.net/Archive.aspx?AMID=36&Type=Recent

It is our goal to vote on an enrollment number for the new Bancroft at this meeting. However, this should not be viewed as a final decision. Whatever enrollment number is voted upon can ultimately be revised pending the results of the ongoing Feasibility Study analysis. So, if the traffic study, geotechnical analysis, site survey, etc show us that the enrollment number we choose will compromise the safety or integrity of the surrounding neighborhood, we will be able to revise the size of the school accordingly.

Options we will consider on Thursday include:

1. Keeping Bancroft at 500--and alleviating the overcrowding at Shawsheen in other ways, such as through minor redistricting and/or capping enrollment at Shawsheen
2. Expanding the Bancroft K-5 population to between 600 and 700 students and including the Pre-K at Bancroft as well; closing Shawsheen
3. Expanding the Bancroft K-5 population to between 600 and 700 students and housing the Pre-K elsewhere (e.g. move it to Sanborn or keep it running at Shawsheen). This would eliminate the K-2 programming at Shawsheen, and potentially eliminate the Pre-K at Shawsheen as well.

We hope to see you at the meeting.