nothin New Haven Independent | Walsh Plans Headed to State for Grant Approval

Walsh Plans Headed to State for Grant Approval

Sally E. Bahner

Michael LoSasso (standing); Scott Pellman behind him.

The Branford Board of Education has approved a third revision of education specifications for the $88.2 million Walsh Intermediate School renovation, which included a net reduction of 6,000 square feet. Now the latest revisions head to Hartford.

The reduction in square footage will bring the design closer to the 150,000 square feet mandated by the state for its 35 percent reimbursement, but the town will still be in need of a space waiver. That reimbursement is based on the highest projected enrollment of 944 students, officials told the BOE at a meeting at the Walsh school Thursday.

Sally E. Bahner

Board of Education

The original application for state reimbursement, including the space waiver, was submitted in June and this revised application will be submitted to the state Department of Administrative Services on Oct. 26.

Latest Stats

As it stands now, the school is 191,000 square feet. Plans as presented by Antonizzi Architects are now 164,500 square feet for academic space, plus 5,000 square feet for central offices for the district.

As presented in December, the educational specifications for the renovated school was 173,812 square feet, plus 6,414 for district offices.

The most recent configuration, presented at the Public Building Commission meeting Oct. 4 and to the BOE Oct. 13, is 164,500 square feet for academics, plus 5,000 square feet for district offices.

The existing pool and the size of the stage in the auditorium (reduced from 2,000 square feet to 1,800 square feet) skew the square footage formula, hence the need for the space waiver.

Tapping Down A Bit

To reduce square footage, classroom size was reduced from 800 to 750 square feet and science labs will be shared between grades rather than teams.

BOE chair Michael Krause emphasized that the reduction in square footage will not hurt any of the educational programs.

Sally E. Bahner

Colliers Representatives

Scott Pellman of of Colliers International, owner’s rep, said they are now right-sizing” the building and that the first passes were aspirational.”

Auditorium Too Small?

Board member John Prins expressed concern over the size of the new auditorium, which will have a capacity of 472. That number is for a 50 percent state reimbursement for renovation based on the enrollment of 944. Prins noted that the number of attendees at the school’s musicals was around 700. We want to get away from improvising,” he said and asked for the optimum size for a fully functional auditorium and a sense of the cost difference.

Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez, noting financing constraints, said that auditorium space will used throughout the school day, not just for performances. We could add performances from a public standpoint,” he said.

So we can’t have an all-school assembly?” asked Prins.

Michael LoSasso of Antonizzi, who described the school’s schematics to the board (the same plans that were discussed at the Building Commission meeting), said the next step would be to sit down with department heads to work out details. He said that this latest version of the educational specification will be submitted with the application to the state. He added that there are two numbers to keep in mind: the total cost of $88.2 million and the $58 million approved by the town.

State reimbursement for the district offices is under a separate grant application.

Hernandez noted that any monetary modifications to the ed specs must be approved by the Building Commission. Pellman said meetings will be held with Fusco, the construction manager, at every stage of the job” and they will report back to the Building Commission.

###

Sign up for our morning newsletter

Don't want to miss a single Independent article? Sign up for our daily email newsletter! Click here for more info.


Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

There were no comments