Weston board reviews SLAM's Phase 2 feasibility study; renovate-to-new and new-build costs close

The Weston School District Board of Education received a detailed Phase 2 feasibility presentation from SLAM Collaborative on the district's middle school options, hearing cost estimates, schedule scenarios and next steps for a potential grant-backed project.

SLAM's principal Kevin Morhardt, a registered architect with the firm, told the board the analysis used an updated eight-year peak enrollment projection of 554 students and the district's 2024 educational specifications as the design basis. "The state permits 168 square foot per student, and then they also have a separate statute that allows a 1% kicker on top of that number," Morhardt said, describing the calculation that yields the state's net gross allowable area (NGAA) and the resulting eligibility quotient.

Why it matters: that quotient largely determines how much of construction costs the state will reimburse. SLAM calculated an eligibility factor of about 0.8049 for the district's current assumptions, which materially lowers the effective reimbursement rate used in SLAM's cost model. "That number is saying any eligible construction costs in this scenario would be multiplied by…