Planning & Design Meetings 12/2/2009 - Agenda
25 Churchill Avenue, Building ‘D’ ● Palo Alto, CA 94306 ● Phone 650.329.3935 ● Fax 650.327.3588 ● www.pausd.org
MEASURE A – STRONG SCHOOLS BOND
Gunn High School
FSC Agenda
12/2/09
1. Welcome and Meeting to Order
2. Schematic Design Presentation
3. Air Conditioning Upgrade
a. Operation Cost
4. Interim Parking Plan
5. Next Steps
a. Schematic Design Budget Approval
i. Next FSC Meeting, January 6, 2010
b. Schematic Design to the BOE
i. Presentation, January 12, 2010
ii. Approval, January 12, 2010
6. Public Comments
Palo Alto HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
Palo Alto Unified School District
02 December 2009
P. 1
PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL
Palo Alto Unified School District
FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
DATE: 02 December 2009, 3:30pm-5:00pm
SUBJECT: Palo Alto HS Facilities Steering Committee
ATTENDEES: Sign-in sheet (attached)
The following are the highlights of the meeting:
1. Jacqui McEvoy (JM) welcomed the committee, introduced student participants and
opened the meeting.
2. Tom Hodges (TH) introduced Mark Wei (MW) who is the network administrator for
the District and discussion followed:
MW related that the existing network infrastructure at Paly is old and does not
meet District standards. His hope is that the network can be replaced.
Associated costs are between $.25 and $.5 million, a huge financial constraint.
TH noted that funds might be found in savings through intelligent design such as
locating the central plant in the new Classroom Building. These savings will also
fund any electrical upgrades and storm drain infrastructure work.
Paul Kandell (PK) expressed concern that a better data infrastructure is tied to
the needs for a new storm drainage system. He noted that the new Media Arts
Center will require a large amount of data lines to run properly.
MW noted that the existing data backbone is a patchwork and increasingly hard
to fix. A new optical fiber backbone is required.
TH asked MW how long it would take to investigate the needs and requirements
for a new backbone and get a cost estimate for this work. MW responded that
he can get it in a month and noted that it would include wiring to the IDF rooms.
JM concurred with the need for a better wireless system. Perhaps 3,000 people
could be using the wireless network on campus at the same time.
MW said he would design for bottlenecks such as the Theater where as many
as 700 could be using wireless in one place.
TH noted that this issue will remain on the agenda for the next several meetings.
3. Aimee Lopez (AL) distributed the proposed Site Logistics Plans that illustrated two
construction scenarios. Scenario 1 was for concurrent construction of the Media
Arts Center and the Classroom Building. Scenario 2 was for separate construction
schedules. The following discussion ensued:
Arnold Teten (AT) explained that in Scenario 1 there are more traffic issues
though it’s still possible to keep school circulation separate from construction
zones. The biggest impacts are to the corporate yard parking areas. Most
Palo Alto HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
Palo Alto Unified School District
02 December 2009
P. 2
construction fencing would occur along existing roof overhangs.
JM said she preferred Scenario 1 because it shortens the overall construction
schedule, and “the sooner the better.” Her only concern was over the memorial
area and that it should not be forgotten or damaged during construction. AT
noted that the memorial area should be identified as a “project”. Part of the
Landscape Master Plan is to determine an appropriate location for the memorial
trees and site features.
Stu Berman (SB) expressed concern over the lengthy construction period which
begins this summer with the relocation of the portable classrooms to the Quad.
He asked if the relocatable project could be shifted closer to the beginning of
building construction or the summer of 2011. TH answered that the relocatable
project required a full summer to complete and the intent is to start the new
building projects as early as April and no later than June of 2011. In order to
ensure this is to schedule the relocatable project for this coming summer and
JM concurred that summer was the only time to perform this project.
PK expressed concern over the reduction of 38 parking spaces by the
corporation yard. JM noted that according to recent counts there’s a surplus of
97 parking spaces along El Camino which would make up the lost spaces.
TH asked for a vote on which scenario to pursue. The group chose Scenario #1.
4. TH asked the group to decide on whether or not to include a new central plant
within the new Classroom Building.
(1) Option #1 locates a new central plant in the southeast corner of the new
Classroom Building.
(2) Option #2 expands the existing Central Plant. Maintenance/Facilities reviewed
the options and favored Option #1 because it places the chillers on the roof. AL
distributed a site plan and the following discussion followed:
Participants liked the way Option #1 frees up the site for other uses but
questioned the parking planned for that space. EL noted that parking plan was
just one option and other possibilities can be explored.
PK expressed concern over noise that might travel into adjacent classrooms and
that over time these units might rattle. AT noted that in his experience noise
from roof mounted chillers can be isolated from occupied spaces. AT gave an
example of a hospital operating room where this configuration works well.
SB asked if other AC options are being considered such as heat pumps or geo-
thermal systems. EL noted that geothermal systems are problematic and limited
by the area required for piping. A central plant is an efficient system and while
initial costs are higher, operating costs are much lower than individual units.
TH noted that other conditioning options for the central plant will be looked at
but asked the group to choose between options 1 or 2. The group voted and
chose Option #1, to incorporate central plant into the new classroom building.
5. Architect Erwin Lee (EL) related that the presentation to the Board of Education
(BOE) has been postponed till next month and that he would give the group a
similar schematic design presentation prepared for the BOE explaining the various
design and plan developments to date:
The Media Arts Building design updates included: various plan changes to
Palo Alto HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
Palo Alto Unified School District
02 December 2009
P. 3
responding comments from staff and students such as, forum clerestory
windows are now smaller and has a pitched roof which relate better to the
adjacent buildings, exterior design has more elements that recall the existing
architecture of the Tower building such as “punched” windows and pronounced
sloping roofs. An arched gateway and connector to Building 100 helps define
the entrance on the Embarcadero Road side of campus.
The Classroom Building plans now feature a separate access to the teachers’
office area on both floors. The exterior has also changed to include more design
elements from the Tower building including a covered walkway that matches
other covered walkways linking it to building 700.
Slides were shown to illustrate how these projects will be CHPS verified projects
that will qualify by satisfying criteria in the categories of: sustainable site, water,
energy, materials and indoor environmental quality.
Slides were shown that illustrated the progress of the landscape master plan
including the tree inventory, tree mitigation criteria and tree studies at the new
buildings identifying trees to be removed and saved.
JM noted that she was excited to see how the new buildings looked more
integrated with the campus as a whole. She has toured the Stanford campus
and seen some good examples how new buildings can complement existing.
PK also commented that he liked the design direction including the sloping roofs
and taller windows.
6. JM opened up the meeting to the public and discussion followed.
Participant asked if the master landscape plan could address student circulation
patterns and introduce more landscaping along the drop-off zone at Haymarket
Theater. She also asked that the Landscape Master Plan provide clearer view
corridors into the campus from El Camino and Embarcadero.
Participant noted that the Classroom Building could now be more rectangular
since the Central Plant building was going to be demolished. TH responded that
the Central Plant building is still an obstacle as it needs to remain until the
Classroom Building is finished.
Mary Gordon (MG) noted that the design now has real cohesiveness with the
campus and she wants to see how the landscape design for the new fields will
turn out. She recommends warm and regenerative plantings and is concerned
over the deletion of a number of redwood trees by the baseball fields.
TH noted that four redwoods will be saved and thinning of these redwood trees
is required for maintenance and health of the trees. He will look at saving two
more at the ends.
7. Schedule:
Next Monthly FPC meeting will be scheduled for Jan. 6th at 3:30 PM.
END
Prepared by Christopher Ades 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
20’ Fire Lane
19 Staff Parking
(includes: 1 ADA)18 Staff Parking
(includes: 2 ADA)
15 Staff Parking
(along curb/gate)
8 Staff Parking
Bike / Ped
Gate
Coordination and Impacts
60 Staff Parking (includes 3 ADA)
Note: Same impact if only 1 bldg
Limited Summer Programs
Adult Education -900 Bldg.
Access to Bldg will remain
Construction Fence on
Perimeter of Bldgs
Bike / Pedestrian Entrance
Fire Access to Remain
Corporate Yard (in progress)
Parking
Transportation / Buses
Warehouse
Construction Schedules
Scenario 1:
June, 2011 to December, 2012
Scenario 2
Classroom Building:
June, 2011 to December, 2012
Media Arts Building
December. 2012 to August , 2014
Corp Yard Parking
Potential Cost Savings
Scenario 1
Construction Cost + Escalation + 6
Added Relos
Total: $29.8M
Scenario 2:
Construction Cost + Escalation
Total: $30.2M
------------------------------------
Potential Savings for Scenario 1:
~ $388K
Scenario 1: Site Logistics
PALY OVERALL SITE (halfscale-15x21) (2).pdf (100% of Scale); PAUSD; Projects; 12/2/2009 02:10 PM
PALY OVERALL SITE (halfscale-15x21) (2).pdf (100% of Scale); PAUSD; Projects; 12/2/2009 02:12 PM