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Planning & Design Meetings Meeting #8 2/18/2009 - MinutesPalo Alto HS MP MEETING No. 8 Palo Alto Unified School District 18 February 2009 P.1 PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN Palo Alto Unified School District MASTER PLAN MEETING NO. 8 DATE: 18 February 2009, 3:15pm-5:00pm SUBJECT: Master Plan Meeting with Palo Alto HS Facilities Steering Committee ATTENDEES: See attached sign-in sheet The following are the highlights of the meeting: 1. As an introduction, Principal Jacqueline McEvoy announced that decisions should be made in the current meeting that will be brought to the upcoming PAUSD Board meeting on March 03. She informed the Committee of a replacement student member that is to join next week, when she goes from classroom to classroom to inform students of the master plan and gain feedback from them. 2. The Performing Arts Theater Sub-committee has researched the Los Altos High School theater and will be preparing a list of priorities to add to the teachers’ spatial needs and amenities list that is still in progress. 3. Architect Erwin Lee welcomed the Committee and announced that the main goal of the current meeting was to discuss how the prposed projects of the master- planning phase is to be prioritized. He assigned dollar amounts to each project and stated that they are only approximate figures, and that they will change as further, in-depth research of each project is done. 4. Lee summarized the steps that have been taken in the master planning process so far. Those steps were the following: • Review existing documents and site walks of the campuses • Initial master plan meetings to review, discuss, and exchange ideas • Testing of ideas from the initial meetings through conceptual plan options • Review conceptual plans and develop further based on specific input • Revise conceptual plans and finalize documentation 5. He showed a list of the original master planning goals that was created one of the early meetings, and related them to the current site plan diagram. These main goals were: • Give organization and structure to campus • Create hierarchy of space • Utilize in-between spaces – preserve open space • Create edges to open spaces • Define and articulate building entries Palo Alto HS MP MEETING No. 8 Palo Alto Unified School District 18 February 2009 P.2 • Growth strategy – consolidate department functions 6. Lee discussed items that need to be taken into consideration for the upcoming master planning phases: • Projects currently under construction such as athletic fields • Projects that will happen regardless of priority list such as interim housing and upgrades to infrastructure • Projects that are a high priority to the school such as classroom space • Projects grouped together for ease of construction and phasing sequences such as those in the same area 7. The current master plan project list was shown with assigned construction and project costs. The construction cost reflects the anticipated bid result, while the project cost reflects the total approximate cost, including the construction cost. Lee noted that various projects could be grouped together to create fewer, larger projects in lieu of many smaller projects, and that some projects, such as infrastructure upgrades, are a high District priority. 8. Lee presented a list of project phasing and prioritization recommendations that he derived from the outcome of the master planning meetings from the Facilities Steering Committee: 1. Classroom Bldg, Library Renovation and Upgrade, Utilities and Infrastructure 2. Media Arts Center, Career Tech, Science Lab 3. Theater/Performing Arts Center, Embarcadero/El Camino Parking and Access 4. Haymarket Theater, Tower Bldg Renovation 5. Weight Rm./Fitness, Gymnasium, Modernizations, Churchill Parking, Student Center, Quad 9. Tom Hodges addressed the Committee about the recommended priority list. He explained that value judgments need to be made and that the school’s capacity to operate, while various projects are going on, needs to be considered. He encouraged the Committee to prioritize the master planning projects in terms of those projects that are needed immediately to accommodate teaching space for student body growth, and those projects, such as the student center, that can wait. Lee reiterated that some projects will need to go in sequence, such as the design of the theater that will follow the design of the media arts center, and some projects will be coupled together. Overlap in projects may happen and the implementation plan will address the details of the phasing. 10. The Committee was asked to comment on the proposed project phasing and prioritization recommendations. The highlights of these comments are: • If the new classroom building is built first, some of its space can be used for displacing the performing arts and visual arts classes when the Media Arts Center and Performing Arts Center are in construction • The lecture hall is very important and should be a top priority • More science labs should be a high priority because the department it is currently at capacity • The classroom buildings should be built first; the portable classrooms should be removed from campus as soon as possible • The library has always been the next in line for renovation, so it should remain a high priority Palo Alto HS MP MEETING No. 8 Palo Alto Unified School District 18 February 2009 P.3 • Phasing should be planned so that interim housing costs are minimized • The new theater should remain a lower priority so that there is more time for additional fund raising 11. Lee explained the next steps in the master planning process: • Prioritization and phasing • Implementation and scheduling • Finalize documentation • Approval by Board of Education • Authorization to commence projects 12. The meeting was opened up for public comment. Two members of the public addressed the Committee. The highlights of their comments were: • The performing arts theater should be built first, so that it can be rented out for additional funds for projects • Because The Haymarket Theater is unsafe, renovating it should be a high priority. It should be gutted so that the library functions can happen there during the library renovation • Changes to the 100 building should happen during the last phase • The community should push for relocating the corporate yard and the district offices to reclaim campus space • Career Tech/900 building replacement should happen in the first phase • Consider changing the cafeteria to be more inviting • Living skills should be located close to the center of campus 13. The next scheduled Master Planning Meeting is on 04 March 2009 at 3:15pm END Prepared by Dean Schmitz 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