Consultants lay out schedule, ESA and cash-flow work as committee advances design options

Colliers project lead Chuck Warrington told the Wellington School Building Committee on March 23 that the design team and Colliers will work to produce initial option concepts by April 8 and review them with the working group on April 13.

Warrington said Colliers will develop budgets and cash flows for the options, incorporating reimbursement-rate assumptions so the town can see likely district shares and the timing of state reimbursements. ‘‘We’ll include that in the cash flow so that as the Finance department, they can look at what’s going out, but also what’s expected to come in,’’ Warrington said.

The committee confirmed it has approved a proposal from Langan Engineering for a phase-one environmental site assessment (ESA) and will finalize authorization and signatures through the selectman’s office. Colliers said the ESA and initial Tecton massing work will inform realistic square-footage and site-selection choices.

Warrington noted the high driver for budget is square footage; he said the team has been carrying about $450 per square foot in recent budgets while OGA guidance referenced roughly $519 per square foot in a sample evaluation. The committee and consultants said they are awaiting written OGA responses to confirm reimbursement and square-foot parameters that affect whether the committee pursues the June 30 grant-application push or opts for a later submission.

The chair said the committee has just onboarded its architect and owner’s project manager and intends to present a single defined project for any eventual grant application while relying on community feedback earlier in the process to inform the chosen option.