SWAMPSCOTT — The town will hold a special town meeting on March 1 to decide whether to approve a replacement to the Swampscott Middle School roof.
Peter Spellios, chair of the Select Board, explained in the board’s Wednesday night meeting that the repair could not wait to be approved at the annual town meeting in May.
“This project is of significant scale and it takes time to mobilize,” Spellios said. “The duration of the project will take the entirety of the summer. Therefore, it is important that that project is able to start the day after school is over.”
While some parts of the roof have been repaired or replaced over the last 20 years, Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald explained that much of the roof was installed in 1996, and has outlived its expected life cycle. The part of the roof which holds solar panels, however, will not have to be replaced.
While there is not yet a set price for the project, it is expected to cost up to $2 million. A more specific price will be determined before the March 1 town meeting.
In addition to the roof replacement, town meeting members will vote whether to approve an additional $165,000 for the feasibility study for the new Swampscott Elementary School. The original $750,000 devoted to the project has been used up, but Spellios explained that there are more questions that the School Building Committee would like to answer.
“This additional due diligence … is going to allow them to advance the plans to a point where we will be able to give the MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) even better pricing for the new school to better prepare ourselves for town meeting,” Spellios said. “The worst thing that can happen is if we say we’re going to build the school for X, and it ends up being X plus 10 percent.”
The additional funding will also allow the SBC to answer questions that neighbors have about construction issues and environmental impacts.
The Select Board voted not to include a warrant article that would have included smaller, non-emergency repairs to the town’s elementary schools, deciding that these maintenance items would be better addressed as part of the town’s operating budget at May’s annual town meeting.
Trea Lavery can be reached at [email protected].
