Search for Intermediate School Architect Begins
ROCKY HILL - A Town Council subcommittee is seeking prospective architects for the construction of a new intermediate school-a facility for fourth and fifth graders that will be built at the former Moser site.

       The Request for Qualifications, (RFQ) went out late last week, with members of the subcommittee planning to create a shortlist of four respondents for the submission of formal proposals. They expect responses to the RFQs by the end of the month.

       Acting Town Manager and Finance Director John Mehr suggested forming a single building committee to oversee the project-he noted that the ongoing Rocky Hill High School project was executed by multiple bodies.

       The intermediate school, proposed by Superintendent of Schools Mark Zito and the Board of Education as a means to remedy overcrowding issues brought on by a growing elementary-level student population, was approved in a landslide referendum held on the November 8 election.

       The project is projected to cost $31 million after state reimbursement is factored in.

       Of the 187 new students Rocky Hill has seen enter the district in the past two years, 113 came in at the elementary-level, according to Zito.

       Meanwhile, NESDEC is projecting an additional 250 students over the next three years. The town currently has between 1400 and 1500 children under the age of six, according to Zito.

       He’s said that continued enrollment growth could create a strain on spaces such as the schools’ gymnasiums and art classrooms, which would have to be utilized if the population exceeds the district’s ability to add more portables.

       So the district’s plan is to construct an intermediate school for grades 4 and 5-for 580 students total. The proposal included six 1200 square foot STEM classrooms, a full-sized gymnasium, and space for World Language instruction-in order to introduce the subject matter to students at a younger age.

       The school would eliminate the need for portable classrooms by taking the two grade levels out of both West Hill and Stevens, Zito has said.

       The blueprint-for a 79,150 square foot building-calls for 26 classrooms total, with two designed to specialize in World Language.

       Zito also envisions adding a couple of soccer/lacrosse fields, to help accommodate Parks and Recreation and athletic programs in town that are already tight on field space.

       With the cost of asbestos abatement factored in, the project as a whole would run for $48 million-before a $17 million state reimbursement, according to consultants from Friar Associates.

      
STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA   |  Dec 21 2016  |  COMMENTS?