##VIDEO ID:INWqYdMIFVQ## will be our our last meeting of the year um I'll quickly review the agenda and then we will go ahead and get started so um following our opportunity for public comment we will approve some minutes we'll approve some invoices and then we will hear a um series of updates from our project team around um plumbing and Fire Protection the um furniture fixtures and equipment budget update uh design update and then a few miscellaneous project updates including the geothermal test will some infiltrometer testing and uh the abutters mitigation package status all trying to adjourn um in advance of 7 o'clock when I know some people have to then hop over to our hearing with the conservation committee so without further Ado we will go ahead and get started um we always is open every meeting oh sorry I should note that we are obviously attending we're conducting this meeting remotely in accordance with the governor's um regulations and so we will be taking any and all votes via roll call this evening um the first item on our agenda are the minutes for November 19th 2024 um so does anyone have any comments or questions regarding those minutes okay hearing none I would seek a motion to approve the minutes of November 19th 2024 so moved okay motion by Bill is there a second second second by Jag root and we will do this as I said roll call starting with Mike yes sir Bill yes J grot yes and I am a yes so those are approved unanimously and we move on to John I think we have Tiffany as well oh sorry you know what happened it went to a second page it's okay Chris Masters wait we have Chris Masters as well yes okay so we are so that is approved unanimously 60 thank you Chris Everly for catching that I'm trying to do like multiple windows and opt over to a second screen when people joined so the joys of remote meetings um okay okay so now we will move on to the invoice package so our invoice package this um for this meeting includes four invoices um one payable to vertex OPM 11632 in the amount of $352 33 one for Perkins Eastman 095421 000012 in the amount of $321,100 one for Lucas environmental 24 at 426 for in the amount of $750 one for firepoint Consulting Incorporated in invoice number 20248 in the amount of $1,500 bringing our total invoice package this evening to $358,500 are there any questions with regards to the invoice package tonight okay hearing none I would seek a motion to approve uh the invoice package in the agenda materials so move Mr chairman motion by Mike is there a second second second by Tiffany we are roll call vote I have rearranged the windows on my zoom so I won't miss anybody this time uh starting with Mike yes sir bill yes Jag grot yes Chris Masters yes and Tiffany yes and I am a yes so the invoices are approved unanimously um and then we move on to the next agenda item which is an update on um the plumbing fire protection so Chris Everly I'm yeah I'll take that one over um so when we last spoke we I last spoke or I think it was two meetings ago when we spoke um we talked about some issues that we had seen in the plumbing drawings and we put in motion a plan to have the drawings reviewed um have a progress set issued have them um peer reviewed by Birkin consultant CES and ourselves and um establish whether or not um sufficient progress was made uh we copied the entire esbc on the letter that we sent when we um completed that review including noting some issues that have come up on the Hopkins project which has the same team um overall our consensus on what we reviewed is that they were improved and um but they still had progress to be done and we echoed that in the letter that we sent to all of you we did ask for a response from Perkins excuse me which they sent us um this morning and I sent on to the committee uh which may or may not have time have had time to read um the issue relates uh to a number of things um including a health issue with one of their lead Engineers um a fairly severe health issue um and in speaking with the replacement engineer that they have hired and brought on and the other folks who they brought on um I was more satis ified with his response than the initial feedback that we got when the issue was first raised they do appear to be working and on a path um to address a lot of the things and they've acknowledged a lot more of the issues than what they'd acknowledg previously to us um I asked Bob I Know Dan couldn't be here today but if Bob could just sort of hit some of the main points in um the letter that Perkins had sent for the committee and just take any questions that you folks have um in terms of how the what we asked them to outline is sort of their quality control approach as they move forward um ensuring that this is addressed by the time we get to the next estimate and that we can put this issue behind us sure um and I don't know if you were addressing this specifically Chris but um we did have a updated Set uh sent to us the team that they've kind of uh reorganized onto the project um had worked uh non-stop through Sunday to get us an update and um we also had CES kind of back check that and to see if their comments got picked up and uh in their words very significant progress I Know Dan was able to take a look at it too and they're moving in the right direction is what we're hearing um our plan going forward is to um continue having CES review we have a 90% set coming up so we want them to do an additional peer review and another back check which means the iterative process of making sure they pick up anything that was uh noted in the peer review um we did discuss and it's in the letter there are other options that we believe are more disruptive we're we're pleased to see that they're in the right direction we feel like they are going to U make substantial strides and are committed to um to catch us up but um you know we are going to prepare for other scenarios we think they're disruptive if we were to uh replace or supplement the team um but we will be speaking to CES about possible scenarios to to augment uh the efforts if we deem that necessary but um I think you know I think overall this should have been communicated and probably addressed much quicker they have addressed it in our minds and and are heading in the right direction thank you our questions any questions from the committee I have a question on what the next steps are in terms of quality control or quality checking I it seemed like from the letter the last devised update came in yesterday um so what what's the next steps to get it to where it needs to be yeah so the next step is to um to do that continue with that process so to continue to have CS review their documents so we have the 90% set coming up and so that'll be another big milestone um that we'll be able to you know get another review and we'll get the back check so um that that's what we're gonna we're g to continue that going forward okay so go ahead Jer yeah the current so the current documents you say they're at 60% um because one of the issues was they were not at the 60% level would would those documents be considered at 60% or yeah what the the set that they just delivered to us was considered an 85% submission and what we heard is uh a substantial amount of the of the things that were marked up in the previous prer review are picked up not everything so it's a it's a huge movement forward um so if they can continue on that track which we expect and we're communicating more regularly with them to make sure they can um then we should be okay hey Bob I had a question just following up on your comments uh first of all we hope I'm sure all of us hope that whatever that health issue is gets remedied that's it's very sad to hear but you mentioned that they are playing catchup and they put a lot of time in on Satur on Sunday and I assume maybe even Saturday and it excuse my ignorance on the industry but does that mean there's overtime that's charged or is it a flat fee how does that impact potentially any cost issues um it doesn't they're under our umbrella and the fee is set it's not an additional service um this would be kind of um something that they absorb and we don't intend to absorb it either on their behalf it's something that they will absorbed within their fee thank you Bob is CES doing additional uh review of these or is this just part of what the program is going along anyway yeah so it's a review do at every snapshot and what we call the back check is to make sure every comment that they you know whatever they marked up was actually picked up so it's not just a a one-way deliver you know deliverable of comments hey you didn't do this you didn't do that it's a um iterative so it's a a a relook to make sure that those things get picked up that helpful great any other questions okay no I mean I don't have any questions I'll just say I appreciate the the transparency and communication on on the part of both vertex and Perkins Eastman um you know this is obviously the way things are supposed to work from from an oversight perspective um so I think it's good that we're obviously sharing this um in the the committee Forum so again the public can see that oversight working um but we certainly hope that things continue to improve here forward as we've already seen so great um let's move on then to our next set of updates which is around FF um I can take that one as well um so we got an initial FF budget draft from Perkins just to make sure that we were we had the right number as we move forward with the um the march to construction the initial budget came in over um or the initial estimate came in over the budget that had been set earlier mainly at schematic design with a slight update uh we asked Perkins to take a second look at it and to boil it down to um cost cutting measures to bring it in line with the budget and identifying any scope items that would push it above that budget um in order to analyze that they had to look at the user group meetings that they'd had in the past as well as other um Communications that they'd had with the district and they boiled it down to three main issues um that were pushing the the budget higher um I think it was if I recall correctly I think it was um we were uh 119,000 over budget and the three issues added up to about 130 I don't have the notes in front of me Bob I don't know if you recall exactly what those three items were yeah it was uh teachers desks in lie of um adjustable height podiums it was additional mobile storage within the classrooms um and then there was also the um uh student mailboxes so they're kind of like little tote bins that we originally had at I think uh one grade level and uh it was just requested at at every grade level so so at this point we've reached out to the school Administration the principal David um to take a look at that information and get an understanding of where those requests came from and whether those requests an argument should be made for those requests to move forward as you all know we've been trending under budget for the majority of the project so in our opinion if it was the wish of the committee I think you have ample contingency to absorb that um $120,000 overage if you wanted to transfer that into your FF budget and carry that moving forward Ward um once we get feedback from David um I won't put him on the spot because he's only had it for about 3 days um but once we get that feedback from David we would bring that question if the school wants to move that forward back to this committee to confirm it likely in January any questions about that all right uh um next up our design update okay I've got that um if I can share the right screen can see my screen yes okay um there's not too many but I'll track through um and I can I can go back and forth um for contacts this is the 60% site plan it's nicely rendered and it it highlights some of the things that had been uh recently updated then um if I flip to the 90% uh set it's not as pretty and this uh really kind of is illustrative of the phase we're in we're in the you know construction document phase so not as many pretty pictures but these are the actual documents that are being developed um for constructibility so I just wanted to highlight on this set there were a few changes um I think I've captured them but we've added a few Gates you can see up at the upper fields that was requested last time we know at at the previous review there was also the suggestion to revise the crosswalks exactly where they um landed so that's been Incorporated um we had added flashing signals at the walkways and also reduce the light poles to the 15 ft um I don't know if there are Chris or Peter if there are other updates um these are the ones that I the the only other site update is something that came up recently from the school side part of a larger and Susan may be able to speak to this better than I can part of a larger effort on campus they're looking at increasing the um amount of accessibility and adaptability in playgrounds um the playgrounds were previously presented to this group and so the schools asked Ashley to look into other playground options um and that discussion is ongoing so we don't really have an update for that yet but um it's possible that we may revisit the playground equipment selections as a result of that um that discussion that's ongoing Susan I don't know if you want to speak to that more or more aptly since you were part of those conversations that I wasn't no I I I think you summed it up um fairly well it it's uh where we are trying to take and a a playground that was uh the marathon site was selected by a committee it's called the Adaptive playground committee um some of the engineering has been funded through CPC and so if this is a movement that the town agrees is a good direction for all students I think it's something we should discuss for the Charles one okay any um any other comments or questions I'm going to move into the so I I do have one question so Susan I think you said if this is something that the town supports so is this something you're suggesting we should wait on to see what happens going forward with the the marathon or is this a decision for us to take sooner than that you know I think because of the support that we've rece the Adaptive playground committee has received from um different elements within the community I think it is it's an effort that a lot of people feel strongly about so I think it makes sense for charleswood to also move in that direction this uh playground will go to town meeting in May um the CPC did allow some funding towards it but the remaining would still have to go to town meeting if cic has to also approve it so um we presented to them last week but it's it's a conversation for this committee to have whether the other playground moves forward or not okay other any other questions on that okay I guess you can move along so the exterior there's really no update this was uh one of the aerial design images presented a while back there's minor refinements but no no real design change um onto the floor plans also just very few changes it's mostly about documentation at this point um as we've been working in coordinating steel sizes become real um mechanical equipment sizes become real and you know we have Clash uh detection or mitigation to do so um one of the things we found is that we've needed to carve out a little bit more mechanical space so I just have highlighted here where we've added a room it's not stealing from program we've just actually tightened up on the vestibule in the lobby which um were very generous um so some walls have moved there um we've also had within mechanical rooms some slight adjustments so it's it's really there's really not much report here up on the second floor similar so where we've moved moved that wall um that defines the lobby that's carried up two floors that allowed us to carve out some mechanical space on this floor that we needed um we've been exhausting options to um fit mechanical into the spaces we provided and and so this is additional space that we've needed to add um really kind of minor and then uh oh one of the bigger changes though you can see on the upper right is that um um we've tried every way possible to um keep the counselor and on the floor above the assistant principal very consistently located uh at the start of each Wing um in this case there was no way we could avoid major duct work navigating um bends and turns uh without having uh to to Forfeit that room for mechanical so we did just move the counselor on this floor to a nearby location and we'll get get borrowed natural daylight it won't get direct daylight but it should be high quality daylight uh and that occurs on the third floor as well um they should actually say assistant principal but that was the only kind of minor program change um I don't know any questions on the plan I'll go inside to show some interior use um this is a kind of a compilation drawing that um has been seen by many but it's really just the steing and the floor patterns that we're starting to work on um the meadow forest lake or river Motif is carried into the as we all know the color choices this was part of the subgroup um work that we did the hallways have um a hint of kind of Pathways and you'll see that in some of the images I have to show that are connecting to the kind of uh natural resources and Landscape in Hopkinton um so you can see those at play here the Triangular shapes you see in the classrooms those are actually every classroom will have those but that's the natural safety uh out of sight Zone within the room um this is the main lobby so this is a view if you came in the front doors you're looking straight ahead at the main stair um to the left you can see two story window space that's the the two-story Library um so in plain view on the floor you can see a little bit of those intersecting paths so that green path that you see actually carries out into the landscape so that's part of the path way Network in the landscape and we carried it through the lobby and into the front door um you know we put in a um a compass in the middle of the floor here again kind of picking up on some of the motifs and the the trail like qualities that uh we're weaving into the school um we're looking at two floors here so you can see the ground floor but then up above what seems like a bridge and that's deliberate um so we have that open connection to the second floor but not up to the third floor in this space the Straight Ahead view through that uh stairwell is out to the courtyards and some of the learning spaces so it should be really nice you walk in and you'll see some of the natural um amenities that the the site has you'll see some of the program um to the right hand side is actually the cafeteria so there'll be a view into that as well feels like kind of a heart to the school um this is a look inside the cafetorium um so we look looking straight ahead at the prum the back of the of the stage has Windows to outside um so a curtain can be drawn in front of them but um for daytime use for cafeteria it's helping to bring light in there's also light coming in from above um here this is more of the lake or river theme so the blues um make their way in uh the floor has a pattern that's sort of abstracting echol Lake um on the walls you can see a little bit of maybe hint of Graphics that pick up on uh natural graph passes that you'd see along the river or or Lakeside um but we're trying to keep the spaces warm there's the uh introducing some wood a little bit of wood in each space and so that's what we've done to dress up the um stage front but otherwise pretty um pretty straightforward um the next space is a look at this is the lower level of the media center um so where uh the arrow over here shows you your view you're looking at the stairwell within the media center C that that carries all the way up um we're having fun with some reading nooks and spaces that are built in but uh the majority of what occurs here is done through uh flexible Furniture um and you can see up to the second floor you can see a glimpse of the second floor library and behind us is actually a feature wall that carries up two stories um that has some tree likee wood ribs um on it as well and then the last face is just into um the classroom areas so this is a look at the flexible learning space so all four classrooms are actually uh six classrooms in this area Peak into this space uh it doesn't show the furniture in the flexible learning but you can see you know consistent rhythm of lockers on the right hand side uh and that flexible learning space is kind of outlined um the floor pattern again is picking up a little hint of of Trail and down at the end of the corridor you can see a window to outside that's where you would add on future classrooms make that a doorway um but there's a built-in bench there as well so again just a little bit of wood that carries through some warmth um and kind of a little bit of fun but um remaining somewhat conservative and that's it for the design update okay any questions for that okay well thank you Bob that's always a fun part starting to see the the pictures of everything coming together and really nice job by the team both responding to to feedback on some of the site pieces and then just continuing to move it forward it's really exciting okay um and then we've got some general project updates uh Chris you taking those uh yeah so the biggest General project update is that tonight is the um Conservation Commission public public hearing is kicking off for the street improvements this follows up on the um previous approvals that we got in October for the um project site so this is the street improvements as it relates to the lane widening and introducing the traffic light um we're required to go before concom because the lane widening occurs within the boundaries of um the Wetland buffer so um we current uh through John we authorized Lucas environmental to do their peerreview and Ty Bond we authorized a few minutes before the meeting started um to do the peer review of the storm water prevention otherwise this would be handled directly by the DPW and the town engineer um so that'll kick off tonight uh based on the fact that we just approved the peer review I would expect there be a follow-up meeting in January as well but um you're certainly all uh invited to come and comment as you see fit on um moving that process forward uh the team's been working really hard to hit the deadlines we set for them so that we can get that moving um couple of just back items to report to the committee uh I elected not to include the technical details in your meeting packet but I'm happy to share them if anyone's interested um we got the test report back on the geothermal well largely the um results were very very similar to what we saw at Hopkins the um with one caveat the um performance was within a hundredth of um a unit of the result that we got at um Hopkins and the temperatures that they found underground were a little bit lower than what we found at Hopkins which from my limited understanding of geothermal is positive um but we should expect the performance is about the same and that's what we were basing our decision on we did have one caveat that is still playing out um we had planned to do 600 foot Wells as part of the total well count at the charleswood site and in drilling the well um they successfully were able to drill to 600 feet um because it's a test well they drilled the well and then demobilized the drill and then inserted the piping when they inserted the piping they hit an obstruction at about 560 ft that they were not able to clear as a result there's a recommendation in the letter from the engineer that reviewed the test well results that recommends we consider a 550t depth for the well as opposed to a 600t depth that is um largely based on the trouble that they encountered we've asked the engineer to take a look at that and see what that means both from a site plan perspective as well as a um performance um perspective so that we understand if there's any more right sizing we can do now that we have exact um data on the test well um so PR just for a frame of reference what did we dig our wells at Hopkins uh 500 yeah just so just so everybody knows we're well within a comfortable limit there yeah so currently we have one 560 foot well that'll be the first well for the charleswood project um we'll get an update from cmta about um what that means in terms of changes to the plan in terms of adding additional Wells or reducing Wells or reconfiguring Wells um I did have an offline discussion with the driller after the fact and one of the things he shared with me was that if they were in a production mode and the drill was still on site they would have been able to reinsert the drill in the bore hole clear whatever the in obstruction was and reinsert the piping but because the drill had demobilized it affected their ability to get to that depth and um I don't have the effective crystal ball that will tell me what exactly fell out of the edge of the bore hole at 56 60 ft um to create the obstruction so um it's really just basing it on the data that they have in the report so as there's an update to that we'll certainly present it to the group and if anyone's interested in seeing that report or the the other report the infiltrometer report I'm happy to regulate those to the group um in terms of the infiltrometer um the infiltrometer is because Dan's not here I'll try to explain it as best I can it's essentially a measurement of how quickly water with a constant head INF traits into the ground um it had been the metric used in the planning board stage was based on a very very conservative number because we knew that the ground was very wet we also know that the test was done during um our ongoing drought so they used a conservative number of about .17 inches per hour when they did the actual test itself they got measurements which were in the neighborhood of um . 65 to 1.36 inches per hour so that means that the um you were moving into the water is moving into the Earth a lot faster than they had assumed based on this they don't feel that it's necessary to make any of the modifications to the planning board this was a follow-up to a planning board special condition we communicated this to the planning board and they agree so at this point the storm water design is confirmed and we've dealt with the condition that asked us to do additional testing um the final item uh Mike and John touched on it briefly before we got going this evening but um where Mike and John have an ongoing Outreach to the neighbors to develop packages we've tried to set a timetable to get those packages finalized and early to mid January so that we can bring them to the next esbc meeting um Mike and John I don't know if you want to speak to the steps that you've taken to date yeah I mean most recently the the three that we still have to talk to letters have been sent um so we're attempting to get those um meetings on the calendar uh the ability to have that happen prior to the holiday is obviously um questionable but um we will we will do our best to to make that happen um and then hopefully we can continue uh we can keep on that schedule for early to mid January and as part of that we do show some of those plantings on what we provided to concom this evening but it's not a um what I would describe as an a scope that affects the sort of reason that they're reviewing the project in any way we're really talking about landscape improvements to mitigate project concerns such as fences and shrubs um that would be either on their property or in the right of way okay and I think that's unless there's any questions I believe that is largely the items that I had to present tonight are there any other questions or items from the committee okay if not then I would seek a motion to adjourn so move Mr chairman is there a second second okay motion by Mike second by Tiffany roll call vote Mike yes sir Bill yes Jag root yes Tiffany yes Chris Chris Freeze looks like Chris froze we can count him as abstained we'll count him as abstained and I am a yes so we are adjourned at um 6:36 p.m. um thank you to everyone um I know that we're rapidly approaching the end of school and the start of of time off for a lot of people but certainly especially our school staffs so I hope everybody gets some nice uh restful time off this holiday season and we look forward to seeing everyone again in January have a good night thanks you too happy holidays everyone yep e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e