School Committee members agreed Monday night that they need more information on the cost of making Bromfield House accessible before continuing down the path of finding space elsewhere for school administration offices.
The committee’s 2013 decision to give up the building “was made in good earnest faith at the time,” Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger said, and it should not be reversed lightly. “But it’s not impossible to reevaluate where we are now,” she said.
The committee decided that the next step is to ask an architectural firm to estimate the cost of putting a single-story addition at the rear of the existing building and renovating only the first floor, alleviating the need to make the second floor accessible.
The most recent estimate for renovations and accessibility, done in September 2013 by Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects (GRLA), came to about $686,000. That estimate did not include making the second floor accessible. GRLA suggested instead that the town request a variance from the state’s Architectural Access Board based on “excessive cost versus benefit provided” to allow services that are provided on the second floor to be accommodated elsewhere when needed.
Even if work already done and lower-priority items are removed from the scope of work identified by GRLA, as suggested in a Press article last week, increasing the scope of work to put an addition on the building may drive the estimate even higher than GRLA’s $686,000.
Currently, the offices on the second floor of Bromfield House include the community education coordinator; the Bridges (elementary after-school program) coordinator; the director of pupil services, Marie Harrington; and her executive assistant, Claudia McKenna. There is also a private conference room, which McKenna said is used by Harrington for meetings with lawyers and mediators, as well as for meetings with the pupil services coordinators from Bromfield and the elementary school, and for meetings with the out-of-district coordinator. Harrington also meets occasionally with parents in her office. Pupil services moved from the Bromfield School to the second floor of Bromfield House in 2009.
For educational purposes primarily
The building’s deed stipulates that it be used “primarily for educational purposes,” so the committee’s decision has ramifications for the town, which could be left with an empty building. Sale of the building would require a Town Meeting vote.
During the meeting’s public comment period, Carlene Phillips of Oak Hill Road said selling Bromfield House would go against Harvard’s tradition of historic stewardship. Phillips also commented on recent discussions regarding moving school administration offices to the old library, saying that it would undercut town residents’ oft-stated desire for a vibrant town center.
Because getting estimates from an architectural firm may be the first step toward a large capital expenditure, the Capital Planning and Investment Committee on Monday morning reviewed and blessed Redinger’s proposal to undertake the study.
Redinger, who is a member of the capital committee, said that although the School Committee had estimates from earlier studies, as reported in last week’s Press, “no one ever considered what would it cost if you simply renovated the first floor, don’t put in a lift, and add on to the back, and move [the second-floor offices] downstairs … If we could get by with staying in [Bromfield House] for another 10 years, that would relieve some of the [future] debt on the town.”
“Is this something we would support going forward?” capital committee Chairwoman Debbie Ricci asked the group. “The answer, based on all our discussions would be, I think, yes,” said Ricci. “Just make sure [the study] includes all the things you need to bring it up to code.”
“Absolutely,” replied Redinger.
On a motion by Swanton, the CPIC members then voted unanimously to support the study.
