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Planning & Design Meetings Facilities Steering Committee Meeting 11/3/2010 - MinutesGUNN HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Palo Alto Unified School District 3 November 2010 P. 1 GUNN HIGH SCHOOL Palo Alto Unified School District FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: 3 November 2010, 1:15pm-2:00pm SUBJECT: Gunn HS Facilities Steering Committee ATTENDEES: Aimee Lopez, Tom Hodges, Erwin Lee, Alex Morrison, John Benza (parent), Arthur Keller (parent), Duncan MacMillan (public), Tracy Stewart (public), Don Briggs, Judy Buttrill, Wes Cedros, Kim Cowell, Paul Dunlap, Lisa Hall, Kathy Hawes, Chris Horpel, Tom Jacoubowsky, Anne Jensen, James Lubbe, Lynne Navarro, Meg Omainsky, Todd Summers, Katya Villalobos, Lettie Weinmann (all Facilities Committee members), Martha Elderon , student representative that did not sign in The following are the highlights of the meeting: 1. Group One Projects: The Group 1 projects have all been submitted to the Division of the State Architect (DSA) for review and approval. Construction estimates for these projects were prepared by two independent estimators for comparison purposes. One estimate was below and one above the project budget. After the projects are bid, the two estimates will be reconciled. 2. Air Conditioning Retrofit Project: The documents have been submitted to DSA for review and comments. The project will most likely be a summer 2011 project with all construction being completed for the beginning of school year. This schedule is different from the original schedule which had some work beginning during the spring break. A summer project schedule will have the least disruption to the school operations. 3. Construction Update: Alex Morrison (AM), with Gilbane Construction, reviewed some of the site logistics for the upcoming construction. AM emphasized that the following discussion were initial thoughts only and that the planning will need to be fluid and evolve as more information is known. Input from the site would be invaluable in fine tuning the logistics. The highlights of this discussion were: • Construction fencing will be installed in various portions of the campus when construction begins. The former village area is currently enclosed with temporary fencing and one could expect a similar arrangement for the other areas. GUNN HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Palo Alto Unified School District 3 November 2010 P. 2 • Construction will commence in late spring or early summer. • The gym lay down and staging area will occur in the existing tennis courts. • Access to the gym construction site will be limited to the contractors during the beginning and end of the day with special arrangements made for mid- day deliveries. • A coordinated effort will be needed to make sure that where pedestrians, bikes, cars and the contractor interface will be well controlled and safe. • For the construction of the two-story classroom building, the vehicular access from Miranda will be very limited and controlled. This will be the main construction access for the contractors’ crews and materials. The current parking will be eliminated in this area. • Arthur Keller (AK) asked if the bike access will be allowed form the Miranda entrance. AM initially thought that there should be no access but will review the issue further. He indicated that it might be possible to move the fencing towards the building site to allow a minimum bike access. Lettie Weinmann (LW) expressed her concern about access to the science classroom for teachers to drop off equipment which happens quite frequently. LW also shared that it could be a concern for the foods class as well. AM indicated that he will review this concern and again emphasized that the plan is only a draft and that this was the type of information that he needed to fine tune it. • AM shared that he is working with the City of Palo Alto in order to have construction access off of Arastradero for the World Languages Building. • LW suggested if staggering the construction projects would be beneficial for the site. AM and others thought that the current bid climate is too good and postponing the project would increase the cost of the project. • It was asked of AM what, as the IS, should they be reporting back to their teaching staff considering the presentation was only a draft. It was noted that this information is currently published in the office so any feedback they get from their colleagues would be helpful. • AL added that any feedback from the teachers is helpful and that it can be incorporated into the logistics plan. • Tom Jacabowsky (TJ) shared that the construction will be disruptive with some days being harder than others. However, he pointed out that the contractor will work around the school’s activities so that loud activities do not occur during the school testing schedule. • The question was asked about how parking will be impacted. TJ explained that parking will be a challenge during the duration of construction. LW suggested if it was possible to share some of the adjacent business’ parking lots on a temporary basis for staff. TJ said that this would be worth looking into. • Donn Briggs (DB) asked if the turf area where the proposed new basketball courts are could be kept available until the very end of construction. DB also expressed concern about dust in the new swimming pool. AM said that it would be doubtful since there is grading that needs to occur in the area of the proposed basketball courts. • DB also shared that kids hop over the rail at the corner of the existing gym in lieu of walking around the railing. The drop in elevation is several feet and is potentially dangerous. Tom Hodges (TH) responded that new construction GUNN HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Palo Alto Unified School District 3 November 2010 P. 3 will provide better access from this corner and that during construction there will be no need to access that area with the tennis courts removed. 4. John Benza (JB) introduced himself as the new Gunn parent representative who is replacing Joan Jacoby. • JB asked what arrangements had been discussed and/or made regarding the tennis program while the Gunn courts were out of service due to construction. TJ said that they had considered several alternate plans and would discuss with him further. END Prepared by Erwin Lee of Deems Lewis McKinley. Please advise if you feel that any of the above items are inaccurate or need further clarification or detail. cc: Attendees File