The Norton High School Building Committee gave a presentation last night on the project feasibility options and projected costs to Town Committees.

At the end of the meeting, the school and building committees approved a two-story addition as the preferred alternative.

Kevin O’Neil, Building Committee chairman, was the emcee, while Margaret Wood of Pinck & Co. and Greg Smolley of JCJ Architecture were the keynote speakers on the subject.

“A lot has been done to talk with the staff here at the high school, meetings with students, to get a general idea of how does the school perform now, for the students and staff, and how should it in the future,” O’Neil said.

The audience was presented four different options for the high school; renovation, a one-story addition, a two-story addition and a new high school altogether. Costs could range from $12,002,860 to $27,101,669 after state reimbursement.

“What we are talking about is trying to identify and explain the most efficient way to approach the needs of Norton High School,” Smolley said.

As the school is, there are numerous deficiencies, such as insufficient stair width, short falls in lavatories, circulation choke points, interior classrooms and more.

 “We’re quite a bit under in our classroom spaces. You might say that 9 percent of classroom space isn’t a real lot to worry about, but if you are talking about 9 percent of 700 kids, you’re talking about 63 kids who don’t have a seat. And that’s the easiest way to look at this is what percent of 700 kids are impacted by those numbers.”

According to Massachusetts School Building Authority guidelines, for the amount of students in the school, which is in the ballpark of 700, there should be a total gross area of 149,800 square feet. The school is at 130,755, lacking substantial room in physical education alternative space, special education rooms, science labs and classrooms. The kitchen in the cafeteria, however, exceeds guideline expectations.

In the renovation only option, stairs, an elevator and more bathrooms will be built. According to studies, this will only improve half the aspects of the facility, academic space not included.

“That gets us up to our ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compatibility for accessibility, it gets us up to code for our exiting, it gets us up to code for the bathrooms. And we would propose going in here and renovating this building to bring it up to code. So we would do roof, insulation, mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing, the windows, the building envelopes. It’s a fairly extensive project.”

The projected cost under this option would be $18,728,440. Based on a 28 percent reimbursement rate from the MSBA, the annual cost to the taxpayer would be $138.

“The town qualifies for a legitimate project between 54 and 60 percent if you address all the MSBA guidelines as we move forward. Since this doesn’t address the educational space, we’re projecting that the MSBA will cover somewhere around 28 to 30 percent,” Smolley said.

In option 2.1, a one-story addition of 19,000 square feet will be placed on the eastern end. Smolley noted that the high school blueprints were designed for an addition to this area, should it be neccessary. This will house six science labs and shift current classrooms to window space. This will slightly improve more than half of the school’s needs, and significantly improve the rest. The cost estimate for this option is $28,578,237. Based on a 58 percent reimbursement, it could cost each taxpayer $121 annually.

“Now that got us pretty close to the educational space. We ended up being about four or five thousand square feet short,” Smolley said.

In the two-story addition option, the cafeteria will be moved to the eastern end while it’s previous location will be used for the band, special education, storage and more. On the second floor, six science rooms, flex labs, special education rooms and more window-front classrooms will be created. More hallway space will also be included. This will significantly improve all aspects of the facility, according to studies. The total project cost for this would be about $31,830,966, and after a projected reimbursement of 58 percent, would cost $137 for taxpayers annually.

In the final option, the high school will be built halfway between its current location and Henri A. Yelle Elementary School. The baseball, softball and football fields will be moved. This would cost about $49,275,762. Since the state does not pay for fields or driveway, the projected reimbursement rate for this option is 45 percent. The cost to taxpayers would be about $247 annually.

“This project, when we look at the cost, it goes right up, because we have to address all the storm water runoff, all the retention, all the parking. Everything we don’t need to address when we work with an existing building needs to be addressed.”

Costs to taxpayers are based on a 20-year bond. The funding allocations have been set aside for Norton already. Payments to the town will be made monthly.

“Once the state agrees to participate with you, they’re in the game with you. They aren’t walking away from it.

"You’re not footing the bill, waiting for the state to give you money. We’re finding in most cases, that they’re paying the towns faster than towns paying consultants.”

Since his wife was on the School Building Committee for the high school built in the 70s, Paul Helmreich, current member of the Finance and School Building Committee, knows that guidelines could change in the future.

“When this school was opened, the state certified it for 800,” Helmreich said. “This was opened as a certified 800-student school. Now we have to put a lot more space on it to get it to be certified for 700.

“The key here is, we want to make it not just what it will do now, but with enough flex space so that when technological and other things that we may not even think of now comes along in 15 or 20 years, we can adapt to it.”

Smolley said that the current plans allow for that flexibility.

The next step is schematic design.

“We’ll have reduced the size of the building as much as possible, and still deliver the educational mission, we’ll reduce the cost as much as possible, and still know that we are comfortable going and we’ll have tightened up the timeline as much as possible and know that we are still comfortable moving forward,” Smolley said.

“Right now we have a tentative date of 6/6 for the town meeting and 6/11 for the town vote, simply because we think it might be beneficial if you knew the state’s commitment before you ask the town to vote.”

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