Oh, okay.

Well, welcome back.

Start the recording because it started and then it's okay.

I just actually I just pressed play on the recording.

So it it is recording now.

All right.

Okay.

Um, good evening.

This is the December 16th meeting of the Stanford Planning Board.

Um first item have on agenda are the minutes from our last two meetings.

Uh first we have the minutes from November 18th, uh 2025, uh, which we reviewed at the September at the December 2nd meeting, but did not have forum to approve.

Um no, there were some additional corrections as well.

Um so present at that meeting.

Uh are myself, uh Ravi, um Bill and Chet.

So can I put forward another motion to approve the minutes?

Uh motion approval second.

Uh second from Ravi.

Uh, all in favor.

So it's your hand.

And three of us approve the minutes uh of November 18th.

Uh next on our agenda are the minutes from uh Tuesday, December uh present at that meeting where Jeremy are there any uh hey Jennifer audio is making up quite quite a lot.

Okay.

Um why don't we um I'll I'll take the motion for this and then I'll switch to phone audio.

Okay, okay.

All right.

I hope that I have to abstain because I was not present.

Correct.

So um I chet and Jeremy can vote on the minutes.

Um do I have a motion for approval of the minutes, motion second for all in favor?

Um the passes from the three of us.

All right.

Hi, welcome, Bill.

Thanks for joining.

Um the the board just approved the first two uh agenda items, which is of the minutes.

Jennifer is very frozen, so she should be joining audio soon.

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes.

Well, we're I thought there were only two items total.

Uh the the minutes, the the meeting minutes.

Oh yeah.

So we haven't discussed the schools yet.

Not yet.

Is there can we move on or are we we are we having more dip technical difficulties?

I think uh Jennifer is supposed to have to switch to the phone.

Uh that's what I thought was happening.

So I'm I'm but she's on mute on the screen, so I don't know.

I can't hear you, Robbie.

She's um she's looking up the phone number on the agenda, likely calling it.

Will you can hear the others?

Okay.

Lindsay.

Um we do also have the team here for the Roxbury item.

They're all in the attendees.

I just wanted to make you where they should they should be promoted.

That would be uh Dave Cravenzola, Kelly Nelly, Mary Lynn, uh Randall, uh Randall Luther.

Um, and we have Craig DeJong from the West Hill team.

All right, you all you got it.

Thanks, Catherine.

All right, how is my audio now?

Better okay.

Great.

Um, we can go ahead and proceed with the presentations, and I will just note for the planning board that um it is our duty um in listening to these presentations to also reform their alignment with the um the comprehensive plan.

Um so if our presenters can go ahead and just introduce themselves for the record.

Um, we'll be glad to hear about all these exciting projects.

Um so I'll just kick off and say I'm Catherine Mobaldo, uh director of school construction for the city of Stanford.

Um this evening, we have a couple of procedural uh votes for uh for this board.

Um the first item will be Roxbury Elementary School.

Uh Roxbury Elementary School is going for its uh bid authorization meeting with the state of Connecticut, and in doing so is seeking a uh affirmative letter from this planning board.

Uh and we'll have presenters Kelly Nelly from Arcadis, uh Randall Luther from TSKP Studio, um, and Mary Lynn Redick from ITF Studio, and we have David Carbenzola from ONG construction.

Good evening, everybody.

Hi.

Good evening.

Now, Catherine, I think I missed like the first 10 seconds of what you were saying when I was switching to my.

Oh, do you want to share?

Do you want to share your screen?

And take it away.

Let's not keep these folks waiting any longer than they have.

Um, can you all hear me?

Yes.

Okay, I can't share.

It says disabled share.

So you should I just enabled it, so you should be able to share now.

All right, let's try again.

All right, sharing screen two.

All right, let me know when you can all see a presentation that says the city of Stanford Roxbury K through eight school.

You got it.

It's there.

All right, great.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks for having our team here tonight.

We look forward to um working with all of you.

As Catherine mentioned, we're here for two things um for your support and approval for the new Roxbury K through eight school, and then also for um approval to move forward with demolition of three structures on the existing K through eight Roxbury School.

Um, so moving forward through here, um, a quick overview of the project.

We are building a new K through eight school on the existing Roxbury K through five school.

So the new building is going to be bringing in grades six through eight.

So we're gonna have a larger, larger school going from you know a little over 500 students, 850 students, as you see.

Um, I think I'm on the second slide if you can see that.

We have a very tight site.

So our new proposed building is going to go back there on the um right side of the site where the only open area we have.

Um, but in doing so, we're going to have to um make some adjustments to the existing building.

So you'll see.

Can you guys see my cursor moving?

Yes.

That chance great, thank you.

So I'm circling an area of portables here and then up here.

Those are two sections of portables that are gonna have to be demolished.

We also have this little square here.

It's four classrooms.

It's an addition that was put on after the the existing school is built.

It's two stories.

The lower level is a garage, and the upper level is for classrooms.

So we're gonna also demo demo those for classrooms as well.

Because as you see these notes here, this is a very large slope that goes down to this field.

Um, so being able to have access around the building during construction is going to be important.

So demo demolishing that will enable us to have the new school on our existing site.

Um, we have two phases of construction.

Phase one is going to be our geothermal wells down here where you'll see this play area and this open space.

We're also going to be doing some ground improvements right here with the building pad is going.

And then some additional things, site fencing, the demolition, and some new parking over here where you'll see it says play.

It's a uh existing basketball course.

So we're going to be moving basically this parking lot up here.

Um on my next slide, we are zooming into the new proposed site layout.

So key considerations as you saw, or one quick one quick overview here.

The existing school has two entrances.

The buses come here, students come from the into the front of the building, and you have parking and car drop-off in the back.

So we're kind of maintaining that same thing on the new on the new um the new layout for the new building.

It's probably going to be even more so used down here because this is just going to be either car or bus.

Um and then same thing with the upper lot, car or bus.

So you have two main entrances.

All of the main things like media center and cafeteria on that floor for them.

So you don't have to move through the building.

Um and then their play area is also down here.

Um, so they kind of can just stay on that that main floor.

Um, another great item we have is a is a very large um middle school soccer field with additional play area and a basketball court.

Um a very important thing to know is we are very much increasing our parking.

We have about 45 to and 35 in the existing layout at the existing uh Roxbury School, but we're gonna have over 160 parking spaces at this new school.

Um, and as far as the car queuing and bus queuing, I will say that you know, TSKP and their consultants have done a great job to really maximize these bus loops and car loops.

So um the upper loop can have up to 24 buses or 45 cars, so it's really flexible.

They can the school can choose which path they want to go or change it however they please.

And then the lower parking or not parking, the lower loop has either 22 buses or 34 cars can queue at a time.

This loop will be gated off though after school drop off.

So when the kids do come out to play at the playgrounds um and the play areas, there's no car traffic coming in here, and then it'll be open back up for um when it's time to depart.

Um that is really it for our presentation today.

If anybody has any questions, please feel free.

Myself, O and G T S KP are here to answer any questions you may have.

How long how long is this construction going to going to take?

So we are going to be starting phase one construction in July when school gets out.

That is going to be as mentioned, the demolition and uh geothermal.

And then we move into the main construction in November of 2026, and we are complete in 2028.

So the kids will move into their new school August of 2028.

So roughly we're estimating about 22 months, David, off the top of my head, 23 months.

Our main construction is 18-month construction, but we've added phase one to demo demo the part of the building and then add the geothermal well.

So there's a and then Kelly, following that is the phase of demolition of the existing Roxbury School, and then completion of the rest of the site amenities that continues for approximately 10 10 months after the occupancy before the start of the 28-29 school year.

27-28.

2029.

Uh, Chester, I think you were had your hand up first.

Um, thank you, Kelly.

Just to adjust to one question regarding the loop in the back.

Yep.

Umce there's not a whole lot of green space back there.

Um was any consideration given to making that um a more per uh permeable paved surface?

Um, you know, the at least the loop that the cars are gonna go on.

Um, I can have Rangel jump in here if that was ever a consideration.

Um, but as of right now, you know, this secured play area in the loop is you know, uh it's not mulch, but it's that it's a play surface material, and then you have uh basically a paved area right here where the kids can have like hopscotch and four square and things like that.

So, Randall, I don't know if there was anything you wanted to add.

Uh no, you're well, so Kelly's correct, and that the play surface itself is rubberized and it is porous and it is permeable, so that portion of it is will you know serve to recharge some of the groundwater?

Uh, as far as the pavement itself, um, there were some early discussions.

Uh the the building will be uh lead uh silver, and as we were looking at stormwater options, and there was some discussion about permeable paving.

Um, but it was felt to be one more expensive and two higher maintenance, and so it was not pursued.

Okay.

Thank you very much for that answer.

William or Bill?

Um yeah, I was just wondering uh the footprint of the new building looks like it's much smaller than the old.

Is that because it's three stories?

Yes, it is.

And and that's one of the there's one of the few benefits to having uh very little area to work with while the existing building's in operation, it's forced us to make a building that's very compact, uh very efficient.

Um and in fact, the the grade as well has worked to our advantage in that we're able to enter into the middle of a three-story building, so that typically nobody really has more than one story to traverse, other than the oldest kids if they're going from the top level.

They may have to go down to the lowest level, but the younger kids either traverse no floors or one floor.

And why do we need three times as much parking?

Well, there I mean, there are there are two reasons.

One that the existing parking is inadequate.

Um, and then second, the school enrollment is increasing um significantly.

And so the combination of those two factors has has led to the increase in parking.

Uh no, just one quick question.

The soccer field is it uh artificial turf or is it natural long natural regardless?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I realize that now.

Um, one last question, if I may.

Was any consideration given um to orienting the new soccer field 90 degrees?

So that it is um, you know, when there's uh a ball that overshoots the foul line, it's not heading into the driveway and parking.

Yeah.

I mean, so the field itself is all flat, um, with you know, just very subtle pitch for drainage.

Uh and you could in fact turn that field in either direction.

It's just graphically how we chose to illustrate it.

But that that's a we've had that very same conversation in the office, like should we show it this way or show it that way?

Um so you you could in fact turn it 90 degrees depending on how they want to lay it out, or depending on what sport they're using it for.

It doesn't have to be for soccer.

It could be for for any number of um uses.

In this orientation, you have easy access to the basketball court too from the sidewalk.

If the the soccer field was over here uh next to the drive, then you'd have to go over here to the basketball court because the slope is very steep right here.

So fitting it over here would have been difficult.

Uh so that was my question.

Um so it could uh it could not turn 90 degrees and and kind of occupy the the uh the space closer to the intersection of Roxbury and West Hill.

No, no, it it could.

Um and in fact, you know, everything's still a little fluid.

We're we're just completing design development.

And we we've to facilitate that, we've actually are looking at right now at moving that basketball court a little closer to the drive because it is there is some fencing there, uh and that would free up more space to give you the flexibility to do just what you're talking about to turn it 90 degrees or or to stripe any other kind of activity you might want to put up there.

So you'll make that assessment in design development, I assume.

Yes, as we move forward.

Okay.

Are there any further questions from the board?

Um hearing none.

Um, Lindsay, procedurally, should we just kind of do all the motions at the end or should we do it per item?

I would do it per per item because we'll we'll be having different um there will be a separate letter for each from the planning board.

Thank you.

All right.

So as pertain to cut.

Okay.

All right.

Um as pertains to this presentation on Rock Aerry.

Um again, our charge of the planning board is to review and determine its compatibility with the comprehensive plan and the capital plan.

Uh do have a motion on this item.

Chat.

I'll move approval.

Yes.

All right.

Uh a second on that motion.

I second okay, second and bill.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Um all in favor of um affirming the alignment of this project, please shut your hand.

Uh Jeremy, do we have you?

Uh yeah, Jennifer, I'm going to abstain from this one.

Okay.

Okay, so four and approval and one abstention.

All right.

Uh now on to our next presentation.

Um before we move on, could I ask that we take item one and I apologize item three, which is the demolition.

Uh the it's a according to the charter, section 9-10.

Uh the mayor must refer the demolition of existing assets to the planning board.

Um, so we didn't have a separate presentation for that.

We're hoping we could we could take both.

That would be all right.

Okay.

Uh yeah.

So we'll just say procedurally that that was the motion for item one for uh and for the project itself, and then we'll have uh we'll take a motion for the demolition.

Uh chat move uh approval for affirmation of the demolition in alignment with the capital plan, the comprehensive plan for the second, second from bill, all in favor um for an approval and generally an abstention.

Yes.

All right, great.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh so next uh the presentation on West Hill Demolition.

Uh wonderful chair, uh, have Adam Levitis here from Collier's Project Leaders and Craigant from Slam Architects.

Adam's going to be uh sharing the screen as we go through the construction logistics, uh, which describe the demolition on the West Hill High School's campus, uh, which is the item we are here for uh seeking your uh approval for this evening.

Um starting in April, and I apologize if some of you have seen this before, but um we'll we'll try and zip through.

Um in April, um uh we are anticipating uh doing your construction to mobilize on the West Hill High School campus.

They are going to demolish uh the blue square in the lower left-hand corner.

Uh we often refer to that as the old VoAG.

Uh Principal Ronaldi remembers it as the old Voag.

It is currently um a bit of an abandoned kind of um storage uh maintenance uh area.

Um it is it is not the Voag building.

We will not be demolishing the Voag or what is known as the AgriSigns building, just to be clear.

Um on the right hand side is the construction which are we're doing to bring utilities in, but that that is not any that's just necessary construction.

Um next.

Um after graduation next year, uh we will start selective demolition of the uh auxiliary gymnasium to make way for our room uh on the site as we continue to at this point.

We will fence uh the full perimeter around the site.

Um this will be our condition for the next three years.

You can see it there June 2026.

So graduation will occur uh in the stadium as planned in 2026, and then the campus will or the majority of the campus will be uh fenced off for construction activities, and we will uh start demolition, selected demolition with the uh the auxiliary gymnasium.

Um we will also be making modifications.

You see the other circle there to the loading dock area.

Um the current loading dock area is where you see a little bit of a purple circulation line.

Um that will become emergency egress.

Um we will have to relocate the loading dock so services can come in and out.

And off to the right-hand side, you can see the work that we're already starting.

We've been completed the hall road connection.

That will be bring our truck traffic in and out of the site.

So we will not be bringing um trucks carrying their deliveries through the site.

Uh we will allow the campus a bit of the a front of house, so to speak, uh, to try and maintain its everyday activities.

The front field uh will remain open uh as will the majority of West Hill High School minus the uh the gym, which will be demolished in the summer of 2026.

Uh next um these are our our construction as we continue through construction of the new building.

Um we'll go at this point we'll have new bus.

We're we're preparing for busing, we're preparing for staff parking.

Uh next, Adam.

And then when we transfer students to uh the new school first day of school 2029, um we will create temporary parking for staff.

We will have our busing located and we will start the demolition of the of the existing uh West Hill High School, the majority of the existing West Hill High School.

I think we maybe have one final slide kind of showing the finished condition.

I'm not sure which deck we're in.

Oh, no, sorry.

Once the a little bit more here, once we demolish, we need to demolish obviously to create the the new staff and student parking lot and uh finish out the matatorium or pool, as we would call it, the pool and the tennis courts, which you can see in the rendering.

So Catherine, at what point um if you could go back to those phase diagrams uh for a moment, um one right before this, I think.

Um so at what point do the does the field um get continued for use uh only after the new school is is uh completed or sometime before that the fields that are the baseball and softball fields will open in 2029.

Okay, so with with the completion of the of the new school.

Okay.

So um during, but they're not but they're not necessarily needed for construction, isn't it?

Is that true the case, or at least certainly not the uh the football field?

Um actually the the stadium, the football field on the left-hand side of the screen, and the baseball fields uh will be housing our geothermal wells.

Uh there'll be 240 approximately geothermal wells on the site, uh, which will be uh providing uh energy to our existing building.

So we will we will need um to regrade that area um and we're actually reorienting location of those fields.

If you see the site today, that's not where those fields are today.

Oh, I see.

Okay, so we're actually relocating the stadium then.

Well, the stadium is stays where it is, but the baseball field and the softball field are actually moving a little bit.

Ah, okay.

Uh well then forgive me if I'm getting a little confused.

So where your cursor is right now.

Um that's currently an existing um field of some kind.

Football field, yes.

Okay.

Um and in the final analysis, we'll um I think you're saying you're you're placing the geothermal wells there.

Um at what point do the uh or when in the calendar do the thermal wells get drilled and and the that area get uh regraded?

We are doing the uh geothermal wells first on the site.

Um and then there'll be some grading.

Um but we will also be needing that area because the site is so tight for our bus and our temporary parking before we can return it to yeah, it's it's two very large high schools coexisting unfortunately.

We've really packed this site.

I mean, max absolute maximum capacity.

Okay, you've answered my question.

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

Um I hear you.

Are you trying to hear no further question?

And then the specific item that's before us is the authorization of the demolition.

I have a motion on affirmation of the demolition of West Hills.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Yes.

And Chet is seconding the motion.

So all in favor of approval for the demolition of West Hill.

And this passes unanimously.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for your persistence in making this meeting happen this evening.

Oh, sorry.

Yes, very important to keeping us all on schedule, and we really appreciate it.

Of course.

Thank you.

All right.

So those were our core items on the agenda.

I do want to note as a I guess an item of business in relation to the um to the capital plan that we did just receive the recommendation for the safe debt limit.

And it is a $35 million in general obligation bonds, of which 10 million are to be earmarked for a Board of Education projects above and beyond these projects that we have heard tonight about the school construction.

And so the slate of various renovations and upgrades and improvements for Board of Education buildings is what that $10 million yearmark is out of the requests that have come before us.

Chet?

Yeah, so I I have a question about that.

Subdividing the net limit uh level into both city and uh board of education, did we?

We we did not have that specific recommendation from uh uh from the city or the board of finance.

So that is uh the new um bifurcation uh between the two.

Okay, and and is it is it a recommendation?

Is it a requirement?

I mean, we can we if it's a recommendation, then we can choose to accept it or or not, or how does it work?

Um my understanding is that it would be binding.

Um however, that would be a question uh for uh Ben Barnes to confirm.

Okay, because I I would like the opportunity since that's it it's quite a uh a bit uh more than what has preliminarily been allocated to the board of education thus far in our in our uh discussions.

Um I'd like to have the opportunity to reconsider that and and not do such drastic cutting um back to the city side of the capital budget.

Um we can certainly send that question along.

Um I mean I I understand the reservations, and I also acknowledge that I my I think one reason for the earmark is that um you know we've we've been talking in general about wanting to honor the long-term facilities planning that's been happening both on the board of education side as well as across many city facilities.

Um and so my best uh guess would be that the um recommendation for the 10 million dollar year mark is in order to move uh more of the long-term facilities backlog uh forward more quickly.

Um I while I don't know what the recommended timelines were offhand for all of these various projects in the long-term facilities plan.

Um it's all my understanding is already a few years behind what was recommended when um all of these projects were put forward.

So again, we can um we can go ahead and ask for clarification on the bifurcation between the Board of Education uh element and the um and the rest of the general obligation bonds for city projects.

Um I will note another precedent um from a few years ago was when uh the city was setting aside funds for uh the replacement of the police headquarters.

So during that period, also there was a there was a chunk that was just set aside for the multi-year construction, and during that time, the general obligation bonds that were available for other city projects, you know, inclusive of Board of Education and across the city departments was shrunk down as well.

So that sort of earmarking is not without precedent, but we'll definitely confer to see uh what the guardrails are around that.

Um and I'll just note then for the um uh for the board also just as a point of comparison, um, that last year we were working with a overall general obligation uh limit of uh 40 million dollars.

And so um the overall um general obligation limit that we're working with in this year is 35 million, again, inclusive of the 10 for Board of Education projects and the um 25 for other city projects.

Um I don't know um all of the uh background considerations on this and you know, knowing how many school construction projects are proceeding over the next few years, again with a very high reimbursement rate, much higher than we've seen in prior years.

I imagine that is having some impact upon uh what can be issued as general obligation bonds.

Understand that, uh, but but at the same time, the uh the the amount that between uh West Hill, Roxbury, and um and the and the new South End school that's currently in planning.

Um the the amount that still has to be funded by the city is still in excess of 100 million dollars.

So um which the city is already that's that's a portion of debt limit that the city is already allocating to the board of education.

So all deeply understood.

Um I'll I guess the last thing I'll just note um in terms of context is that um the portion of the of that last year, the portion of the 40 million dollars of general obligation bonds that went to the board of education was actually significantly smaller than it typically has been in uh years prior.

Um a lot of that was just driven by the fact that there were fewer requests that came in uh last year, whereas this year um we've been put forward with a significant slate.

Um certainly many of them uh there's an expectation that only some of them will be approved, but that we'll kind of chart out the rest into the out years.

Um that one also keep that in mind as well.

Um so uh again, we'll we'll um send the question about uh uh whether the um division of the general obligation bond is um is a recommendation or if it is binding.

Um and they'll also confer in terms of process between now and the January 7th uh public hearing uh whether we ought to um hold off on any um amendments or if it makes sense to make some amendments ahead of that uh hearing to bring uh the recommended budget closer in line with um what is called for in the safe debt limit letter.

Um any other uh questions on this item from other board members.

All right, um hearing none I'll not record that this is our final meeting of 2025.

Um, actually, no, we have a special meeting on Monday for one item.

Uh but this is our last regular meeting, Jeremy.

We have there's a ZBA application that's on the agenda.

Uh that was actually taken off the agenda.

Yeah, it didn't need to be referred to the planning board.

Got it.

Okay, yeah, no, I just saw it still on the on online and in our packet.

So just want to make sure we're not missing anything.

Oh, right.

Yeah, the one in our packet is um is has been revised since.

And so we got an email from Leslie, uh, I think at the end of last week with the with that revision.

Um, our next regularly scheduled planning board meetings um aside from the special meeting, which has been called uh for uh Monday.

Um will be the public hearing for the capital budget on January 13th, uh the a regular meeting on January 27th and a regular meeting on February 10th.

Uh so in that regard, um don't doesn't the board need to um basically take some uh make a final review of of what uh of the capital planning budget before the public meeting on the 13th.

We do not need to have another official review as I understand it, because what needs to be affirmed by the planning board is the final transmission, which occurs after the public hearing.

So we reviewed the um the budget proposal all together um at our December 2nd meeting.

Um but in terms of like official action, there um we didn't have to like affirm it to put it before a public hearing.

Okay, but I thought we were still uh uh uh awaiting additional input uh in terms of prioritization from the other um planning board members who were just hearing it for the first time on December 2nd.

Um understanding is that the so I know that um that Tony Um OPM has forwarded the questions that were listed in the um with within the capital budget spreadsheet to the respective departments and that we have received responses on some of those.

Um that you know I think our next um step for more formal deliberation across all of board members would be after the uh public hearing.

Um we typically are submitting uh the a letter um for a recommended capital budget to the mayor by early February.

Um and certainly between now and then any of the board members are welcome to take a look at uh what's been proposed so far and to uh suggest any modifications or ask additional questions.

Okay, so on the meeting of January 13th, we're uh we're not expected to take any uh action, are we?

Oh no.

Um well we're for the public hearing, we're to hear the comments.

But but that's it.

Other than to hear them, that's our only formal or action.

That is the formal action, and then we take that into the following meeting.

I mean, I I will say that like if at the end of the public hearing we determined that no edits needed to be made, we could go ahead and affirm the budget, but that seems unlikely.

Okay.

Right.

Yeah.

Um well and thank you very much to all of you.

Um happy holidays and happy year.

Thank you.

Same to you.

Bye, everybody.