Schools
MISA Moves On To BET with $42.4 Million Pricetag
Special Board of Education meeting tackles major project costs.
The Greenwich Board of Education voted to continue forging ahead with its proposal to build expanded music instructional space and a larger auditorium (MISA) at Greenwich High School.
The board held a special meeting Wednesday night to discuss the educational specifications and the related budget for MISA.
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On March 14, the MISA Building Committee presented a construction budget $5.4 million over the original budget of $36.4 million. As result, the board asked the committee to return with options for consideration.
After a 3-hour discussion, the board vote 5-2 to send the $42.4 million project to the Board of Estimate and Taxation next week with the intent to proceed to the RTM in May. Board members Peter von Braun and Peter Sherr did not support the motion to approve and Barbara O’Neill was not present.
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There were several BET and RTM members present to hear the board discuss the escalating costs and options to find efficiencies.
The first part of the meeting was focused on the bids and what impact a re-bid of a redesigned space might have. Board Chairman Leslie Moriarty informed her fellow members that the primary reasons for the bids coming in at a higher level are mainly a matter of timing as some larger projects were also being bid in Hartford that are more desirable. She went on to explain that the “change in costs has not been driven by scope or programs,” but by timing and environmental issues.
MISA Building Committee Chairman Joe Ross said that his committee came up with a “a delta of $1.2 million based on the re-scheme” warning that “any time you re-bid” the price tag may go up or down. Ross then went on to talk about the specific cuts on the table:
- Orchestra pit – loss of the lowest level some 3-4 feet below which would save in excavation and water, but would result in a cut of an important program element.
- Balcony – the elimination of the balcony would result in a reduction of $600k and 182 seats, but would leave volume behind.
Jeff Spector, the district's coordinator for music, art and theater art, told the board that both Wilton and Darien decided to forgo the orchestra pit to save money and now regret the decision. Spector admitted this this kind of cut is “what my staff and I fear. I am a reasonable man, but I don’t want throw out the baby with the bath water." Spector went onto remind the board that the “whole idea build an auditorium is to accommodate student body,” which needs the balcony to do so.
Spector referred to the current auditorium as “a horror show” calling the re-scheme a “big step up from what we have now.” However, the approved ed specs are “what my staff and I would want to see happen pro-grammatically. I don’t care what it looks like”
Greenwich Selectman Drew Marzullo said that if the board made the “grave mistake of eliminating a vital component like the orchestra pit,” then the district should hire Spector back. “If they screw the pit, bring back Spector.”
After the lengthy discussion of options, the board chose not to alter the previous approved ed specs as Ross told the members “we have valued engineered and I don’t know how I can find another million.”
Creative Alternative?
Board member Peter von Braun suggested what he called a “radical” option; “I think we should build a new high school.” Citing the remediation costs as a driver, von Braun sees “an opportunity to get a free major high school” on a “non-contaminated site.” Another component of the von Braun plan is to “move existing town government to the current high school” while renting out the space on Field Point Road on a “triple net basis of $60 a square foot.”
Fellow Republican Peter Sherr responded with “I think the idea is actually worth considering.” von Braun did not address why it would be acceptable to house town employees in the building on the school campus, but not students.
Democrats Nancy Kail and Jennifer Dayton called von Braun’s idea “creative,” while Kail bluntly said “I don’t see that idea coming to frutition and in the meantime I think we need to build MISA.”
Board Secretary Adriana Ospina also agreed with her fellow democrats that it is time to start the project adding that regardless, the EPA will require remediation of the site. Moriarty questioned where the district would find a “50 acre site for free.” Seeing the lack of support, von Braun did not push for a board vote.
With a vote approaching on the financing, Ospina made a request to the board “I urge this board really think through your decision. It is a huge amount of money,” she recognized. However, she opined that to save $2.7 million, “to me makes so sense. We would being making the same mistake.”
Sherr asked Ross if the project could be built on a different part of the campus citing that there is “probably another location that doesn’t involve water. “I think we have the right project and the wrong price tag.”
“We are not blind dumb and deaf,” Steve Anderson told his fellow board members as he told them that it is time for the “answer items” and “make decisions,” instead of “coming up with new ideas.”
Can The District Afford MISA?
Sherr forecasted that as a district “we are going to have to make a series of trade- offs” in order to fund MISA. He expressed concerned that the board is “making decisions with impacts that we don’t understand.” While he agreed that “our job is to advocate on behalf of children,” he added that there is “a fiscal reality we may not be able to afford.”
Kail retorted that she “takes offense” to the suggestion that other programs could be sacrificed drawing an analogy to the town’s police and fire departments are protecting the community and are improving their buildings’ infrastructure. “We are appropriately educating our children,” said Kail and added “we have demonstrated our fiscal responsibility.”
Moriarty called the increase in cost “the nature of doing business.”
Per the GPS website, the original cost of the project was "$28.8 million, which included a 10% contingency." The building committee first began meeting, in June 2008