Stonington to hold meeting Tuesday to update details of school project
Stonington — The K-12 Building Committee will hold a one-hour community meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Stonington High School Commons to provide residents with updated details about the $67 million renovation and expansion of Deans Mill and West Vine Street schools.
The committee, along with its architectural firm, construction manager and school officials, will discuss detailed floor plan designs and site layouts, including playground areas and parking lots, the construction timeline and phasing plans. There also will be an opportunity for residents to ask questions about the project.
The Deans Mill project was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission this week. Plans for the school call for demolishing a large section of the school and building an addition for a total of 62,000 square feet.
The preliminary design for West Vine Street School calls for constructing an addition to create a 56,400-square-foot school that will accommodate students in prekindergarten through fifth grade, compared with the current kindergarten through second-grade configuration. PZC approval of the West Vine project is pending.
The project overwhelmingly was approved by voters in 2015. The 15-month construction period is projected to commence in April 2017 and be completed in July 2018. Last week, the town learned it had been successful in its effort to obtain waivers that will increase state reimbursement for the project from 25 to 32 percent, or about $20 million.
The project is designed to get another 50 years of life out of the two 48-year-old buildings. Neither school has received an update since they were built in 1967.
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