Mallett School project under consideration by planning board

FARMINGTON – Following overwhelming support from Mt. Blue Regional School District voters at the polls, district administrators and building committee members sought the approval of the town’s planning board Monday evening, for a 60,000 square foot elementary school project.

A building committee comprised of school board directors, educators and residents hopes the planning board will endorse a $18.9 million building project on the W.G. Mallett School campus, which would completely replace an aging school with a number of structural problems, energy inefficiencies and other issues. The new school would be 20,000 square feet larger than the current one, and include space for a new pre-kindergarten program.

The building itself, which has been affectionately referred to as “the dog,” (due to the footprint’s shape) by lead architect Stephen Blatt, would consist of a two-floor facility. The school would be accessible by non-staff through a single entrance, monitored by the administrative office.

Now, discussions on programming needs and changes in the modern classroom have given way to storm water schematics and traffic studies. Ideally, the school district would like to be opening bids for the project at the beginning of 2010, and start construction on site later that year. The project would culminate with the demolishing of the existing Mallett School in the summer of 2011.

Before that can happen, however, planning board approval is necessary to proceed.

Challenges the project must overcome include building on a small lot; with nearby lot purchases taking the campus from 2.82 acres to 2.89 acres, as well as dealing with drainage issues ensuing not only from the new school, but nearby property as well.

Plans call for 40,000 cubic feet of underground storm water storage and treatment, utilizing two systems. A “Stormtreat Unit,” which is shaped like a drum and appears as a rounded hemisphere above ground, and the “Filterra Unit,” which actually utilizes an incorporated bush or tree to help filter out nutrients. The treated water would then be discharged into a new pipe running out beneath Quebec Street.

Standing on low ground, this system would be called upon to deal with abutting properties’ runoff as well. The storm water treatment system is designed to handle a 25-year flood.

Also of concern to the planning board is parking, with the project providing 52 spaces during the school day and 86 at night, when the bus loop would be converted into additional parking space. Some board members expressed concerns over the loss in University of Maine at Farmington parking, as the large, 150-plus capacity lot would be destroyed early in the building process.

Building Committee Member and Mallett School Principal Tracy Williams said that the 52-spot figure had been generated by assuming that all custodians, teachers, administrators and volunteers would be present at the same time, which would not ever happen.

Some audience members and a planning board member did criticize the appearance of the building.

“It’s a square block,” Selectman Jon Bubier said, noting that the planning board repeatedly asked Rite-Aid, whose Farmington store was built in 2008, to come back with different proposals.

“You don’t have to go far to see beautiful buildings,” Planning Board Member Clayton King agreed, citing a new school in Norridgewock as an example.

Blatt defended the design, noting that his firm had actually designed the Norridgewock school. Blatt said that a curved facade and single-floor wings extending out on either side on the main entryway would make the school attractive and, importantly, not intimidating to young children. He also noted that as the vast majority of the cost for the project is borne by the state, practically no money was available for pitched roofs, pillars or decorations.

The planning board voted to hold a site walkover on Aug. 26, at 3:45 p.m. in order to tie it together with a walkover of the nearby Emery Community Arts Center site. A public hearing on the school project has been scheduled for Sept. 14.