Shaker Lane school design advances; committee says it will not ask town for more money

The finance committee on July 9 received an update on the Shaker Lane school project, including selection of construction manager Gilbane and ongoing design work by Studio G. Chair (speaker 4) said the committee will consider the design at its July 22 meeting before submitting materials to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for review.

"This project will not be a dime more than that. We are not going back to town meeting. I'm not going to ask the town for more money," the chair said, emphasizing that the project will be constrained to the amount town meeting previously approved. The chair outlined the approval timeline: the committee will submit the design to MSBA, the agency has about six weeks to respond with questions, and the committee then will have roughly six weeks to reply before design documents proceed to the construction‑document phase.

The chair said construction is slated to begin about a year from now, with subcontractors mobilizing for site work shortly after final design. She also described an intent to have a capital committee (two finance committee members, two select board members, the finance director and town administrator) vet the capital plan in advance so the boards have a more complete proposal when budgets are presented.

Committee members asked whether previously discussed cost figures had changed; the chair said an updated estimate will arrive when the next design submission is prepared and that, if necessary, elements would be cut from the project to stay within the town‑meeting authorization.

The committee did not take a separate vote on the Shaker Lane update; the project will move to the MSBA review process and return to the committee as required by that schedule.