Bla, Bla, Bla, Blatt

Marker about 1500 feet up the Fern Road from Route 94

On July 5th the curtain opened on the campaign to secure the Fern site for the proposed new K-8 school with a presentation to the Board by Stephen Blatt, Architect.

He began with a historical review of the site selection process designed to favor the chosen site. In his narrative he claimed that the State Planning Office, for example, had somehow indicated a preference for the Fern site, even before the matrix used to compare sites had been created.

He said that purchase options had been secured from all three landowners (Fern, Zabel, McKenney) and shared concept plans and drawings of the proposed school campus including athletic fields and retention ponds, entrance and exit roadways, and parking. The buildings themselves will cover over 3 acres and the classrooms will be housed in two- story wings designed to create age- appropriate groupings of students, if approved by the voters.

Blatt suggested that it is time now to shift the focus from site to start up the other committees and said that his office would begin to supply the district with a list of committees to fill, with the intention that these committees will be working with his people 2-3 times weekly. He also instructed the Board that it needs to address the issue of pre-K inclusion soon, in order to enhance student population calculations as well as planning costs.

Blatt said that the Fern site is not as flat as it looks but flat enough to build on and the site will require $3.5 million in site development costs. Looping 8 inch water lines will cost in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars but within the DOE reasonable parameters”

Entrance to the facility will be by the Fern Road and project improvements to the road will include a new junction with Rte. #94 as well as 1500 feet of the present road. There was no discussion about the status of the remainder of the town road.