By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
The School Committee has agreed to advance a traditional concrete block structure as the preferred design for a bathroom building at Concord-Carlisle High School.
The building could cost anywhere from $1.55 million to $1.85 million and represents one of five designs the committee could have picked.
Less than a year after a previous proposal faced financial questions, the School Committee is now trying to get creative with its funding sources. “We have a lot of balls in the air,” CCHS School Committee vice chair Alexa Anderson said during a December 10 meeting. “And I think we’re going to get some offset [to costs at Town Meeting].”
Prefab concerns
The School Committee received design options in November and ruled out the most expensive choice — a modular design that could have cost up to $1.9 million.
On December 10, committee members also opposed the two cheapest options, which called for prefabricated units.
The prefabricated bathrooms, which could run as low as $445,000, would last roughly a decade. The traditional design is expected to last 50 years, according to S3 Design principal Sal Canciello.
“When we hear about replacement schedules, it just makes me a little concerned that over time, it’s going to cost a lot more money,” said School Committee member Tracey Marano.
CCHS School Committee chair Julie Viola also flagged concerns about the units eventually being thrown in landfills. “Even though the price is attractive and the concept is attractive,” she said, “I don’t think it’s the right move from a sustainability standpoint.”
Beyond modular design and prefabricated construction, the committee had one other choice — a slightly cheaper but less durable wood-frame building. Members picked the concrete option.
Funding options
CCHS has three portable bathrooms near its Memorial Field Stadium bleachers. Those portables are out of compliance with state code, which requires a permanent structure with at least 16 toilets for a stadium of that size.
Following the School Committee’s vote, the amenities building is now in its design phase before school officials plan to bring the matter to Town Meeting.
Early conversations have yielded no public commitments. But Anderson said she is “bullish” on chances to minimize local costs.
American Rescue Plan Act and Community Preservation Act money could be an option, she said. The schools could also get earmarks through state and/or federal budgets.
Anderson said she and some of her colleagues were in touch with the office of state Sen. Michael Barrett (D-Third Middlesex) and an aide to Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Westford) about funding, as well as with town officials.
Reached on December 12, Barrett’s communications director said Barrett “will be away for most of the month” and was unable to comment.
Eyeing project grants
Trahan’s communications director, Francis Grubar, said Trahan “is a proud supporter of the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District, including CCHS students, faculty, and staff.”
Grubar said Trahan and her team will evaluate “this promising project at CCHS” alongside other requests once they receive guidance on the 2025 process for “community project funding” grants.
Beyond government sources, Marano said officials could also get funding from third-party foundations and donors.
The School Committee’s last effort to fund an amenities building ended after members of the Select Board and Finance Committee asked tough questions about the then-$2.34 million price tag.
Eager to avoid a similar result before Town Meeting in 2025, Marano said, “We’re trying as hard as we can to really offset the cost to the taxpayer, because we heard that loud and clear last year.”
