Core Team update 03.30.15

CORE 3-30-15 - site review

Agenda:

• Report back on ideas regarding driveway reconfiguration (Kate/Eric)
•  How to finalize site plans showing Phase 1 and overall Master Plan for Act 250 (John)
•  Discuss remaining Act 250 application questions that have not been resolved (Kate)
•  Draft RFP for design/build (Eric/John)
•  Planning April 18^th charrette 

Notes:

Peter is still waiting for Tony and Andres. Tony hopes to have the grading done shortly.

Peter & the CAD work.

·         New Access

·         Old and new Masterplan information from DRB

·         Phasing to be imported into CAD

o    JC to place PDF into layers to reflect phases

·         This year site work and wetlands but the chalet will be there for several years.

PARKING

·         Upper and lower?

·         How many spaces…..50?

·         Upper parking will be appreciated by those building the first building.

·         Straight access versus curvilinear alignment.

Charette & Design Schedule

·         April 18th

·         Roadway treatment

·         Landscape architect - management

o    Permaculture opportunities

o    Phasing

Project Management Coordinating:

·         Master planner/Architect
(Tony as the planner…?)

·         Siteplan

·         Building Design

·         Permitting

·         Construction scheduling

RESOLVED:

Tony, Andres and Elizabeth will convene this week and produce an integrated proposal to be considered as the final submission  for the Act 250.

UNRESOLVED:

Time ran out before we could discuss the RFP.

A lot of time was spent around whether the current roadway alignment was acceptable.  It works with the stormwater design and it works with the buildings (both existing and proposed) but the actual character of walking up the road needs further development.

CORE Team Recap 03.16.15

CORE team 03.16.15

Present: Kate Stephenson, Eric Cook, Andres Torrizo, Peter Lazorchak, Ben Cheney, John Connell

Andres kicked off walking us through the latest version of the stormwater plan. He also noted that from the perspective of the stormwater permit, the stream restoration is a separate project (and will require a stream alteration permit).

1. Bioretention swale with underdrain- dormitory area
2. Bioretention swale with underdrain- btwn shops and current building
3. Bioretention swale with underdrain- btwn current main building and pond
4. Forebay
5. Gravel wetlands (2)

Questions that came up included:

-          Is the underdrain really necessary? How deep is it? (Peter L. is concerned about infiltration uphill of the dispersal field)

o   Answer is: 1’ sandy loam, 6” stone, 4” perforated pipe embedded in stone

-          Can the swale #2 be moved along the edge of the driveway to create more open circulation area right outside the existing main building?

o   Answer: yes, Andres will look at the detailing on that in next version

-          Will the covered outdoor work area drain uphill or downhill?

o   Answer: we will assume uphill.

-          How do we deal with the driveway issue: i.e. the gravel wetlands #5 as drawn overlap with the current driveway location. Much discussion ensued about the idea of a temporary driveway and Peter and Andres both pushed for us to do the final driveway location and parking area reconfiguration in Phase 1a. The issues with pushing this into phase 1a include: a) additional up front cost b) the chalet is in the way of proposed driveway route c) two large tents and other storage sheds would need to be moved. We wondered how much the tennis court area would need to be re-graded. We were a bit stumped as to how to resolve this issue.

o   Answer: unresolved. Eric and Kate agreed to spend some time this week sketching out ideas for the parking/drive access.

Peter showed us his latest plans in which the main change being the location of the constructed wetland cells. Pete Munoz felt strongly about trying to move them somewhat uphill while still maintaining the goal of having a gravity system. Only the first cell would be constructed in Phase 1a, with the idea that we would do more detailed tracking of water usage in the interim and a few years down the road as we get into future buildings we would have more data to be able to argue for whether we even need the second cell of treatment. The only potential downside of moving the cells is that on the last building in the master plan (the dining/admin/entry bldg) its location might not have enough elevation drop to be able to feed into the wetland with gravity only (on the lower floor of the building). But we determined this was not worth getting too concerned about at this point.

Questions on the constructed wetlands/wastewater:

-          How big are the berms along the edges?

o   Answer: 1’ is what Pete M. has spec’d. Could go up to 2’ if we are worried about flooding. Andres has spec’d 4’ on the gravel wetlands, but they are partially dug into the ground.

-          Do we have a problem with the swale #1 being too close to the dispersal field?

o   Answer: Peter will check this when he incorporates the CAD files from Andres.

NEXT STEPS:

1.  Andres will send Peter his CAD file.
2. Andres will continue to refine the details on the swales and their location, and the detail on the forebay and gravel wetlands.
3. Peter will work to incorporate the different CAD files into one with layers.
4. Peter will send Kate narrative for the wastewater section of the Act 250 permit application.
5. John will take the final CAD drawings and make them pretty with call outs for legibility when we are ready to finalize for Act 250.
6. Kate and Eric will meet on Wednesday to look harder at the parking/driveway dilemma.

NEXT MEETING:

Monday, March 30 @ 11am

CORE Team Notes 12.31.14

Present: John Connell, Bill Reed, Elizabeth Courtney, Kate Stephenson, Ben Cheney

Thanks everyone for an entertaining day on New Year’s Eve talking about our master plan and process.

I wanted to send around my notes just to track the important “to do” action items:

JC: Ask Ben Weiss to help with the SketchUp model of the site (done)

EC: Ask Zach about Autodesk doing 3d printing of site model

KS/BR: Refine timeline in Excel (see first draft attached)

KS: Cliff notes of Principles/2 page overview of master planning process for general consumption (see attached first drafts of 2 documents for feedback)

KS: call Peter Lazorchak to check in and invite to next meeting to present schematic design (scheduled for 1/6)

KS: call Andres to check in

KS/EC: meet to go through Act 250 administrative amendment application questions

Next meeting: Monday, January 19^th at 11:00am.

Agenda:

1. Presentation from Peter Lazorchak (he is confirmed to attend) on schematic design for wastewater.
2. Discussion of design process for 1^st phase buildings- to inform grant applications in process.

Core Team Notes: 12-1-14

12-1-14 Core Team

Agenda:

• Overall timeline on permitting and design for infrastructure
• Scope of civil engineering beyond wastewater and stormwater- - power, water, driveways etc
• Budget for all of the above
• Plans for cabins and other demolition
• Scope for 35^th anniversary “unveiling”- Sketchup, wood model, pretty drawings, display for lobby
• How do we batten down our overarching estimates for Phase 1 in terms of capital campaign- Dave T. and I will be working on grant proposals in Dec/Jan and need to make sure we are on the right page
• Scheduling January date for half day/all day Core team pow wow- get all members of the team up to speed and on the same page. Need to define agenda for that day and deliverables/goals

In attendance: Kate, Kinny, Elizabeth and John (by phone)

Act 250: We discussed the scope of work for the Act 250 permit process. Kate spoke with Peter Lazorchak last week (who was recently injured in an accident and sustained a concussion so couldn’t be in attendance) and he recommended that we initiate the Act 250 permitting process even while the stormwater and wastewater were still in design development; there was no reason to hold off and the three permits could be worked on in parallel. Kate reviewed the application requirements for a “minor” or administrative amendment to an existing Act 250 permit. Key is defining the scope of what we’re asking for in this round of permitting- we decided that we would go for infrastructure plus the first two buildings (one shop and one dormitory) as that seemed reasonable for what we plan to tackle in the next 2-3 years. We need to get basic estimates for the following: site preparation, buildings (# of square feet and $ per square foot), roads and parking, utilities, landscaping. The total of these items will determine the fee (total cost x $.00540). Therefore on a million dollar project the fee would be $5400. Elizabeth confirmed that unless we have an abutter who thinks a hearing is necessary, we should be able to do this with a simpler administrative amendment.

Timeline: We discussed how much of the work to be done at this point unfortunately hinges on Peter Lazorchak, our civil engineer. Kate will check in with Peter later this week to see if he’s feeling better and to try to get a sense of the timeline and what is on his plate and how much attention he is able to give to this project. Kate will also ask him who the contractors are that we might want to approach for bidding on the earthwork- we couldn’t come up with any names other than Kingsbury Construction.  Another question for Peter is how much time it will take to do the civil engineering design- driveways, water, power etc. once the stormwater and wastewater details are more complete. JC made some amendments to the draft timeline that I had sent around (see attached- JC can you send me the Excel version so we can continue to edit and refine this?).

35^th Anniversary: Date is set for the weekend of July 18^th. We would like to use this as an opportunity to unveil the master plan and talk about the future of Yestermorrow. The plan is to have a SketchUp model of the site created by April 1^st as well as a physical wood/cardboard/3d printed model on hand (Elizabeth said she would check with her son who works at AutoDesk to see if he might be able to help with that), and then invite members of the YM community to submit either a digital model and/or a handmade model of one of the buildings defined in the master plan as a way for them to contribute their ideas to the process. Files must be submitted by July 5^th so that we have time to get everything combined together into the master model, and design the “fly-through” to be projected as part of the presentation. Kate will send out an initial Save the Date for the 35^th in January, and then we will send out more details and invitation to design in May. Kate will take a first crack at a one-pager defining the program, guidelines, principles for public distribution as part of the design exercise. We reiterated the importance of defining expectations for this exercise- it is NOT a competition, it is considered a fun way to get input from a variety of people and get them excited about the process. We need to come up with a plan for how to manage the designs that are submitted and provide feedback on them. However, we do plan to engage a professional architect/designer to do the actual design of the buildings, potentially using some of the “best of” ideas as inspiration/guidance (after vetting by the Core Team).

Next Meeting: we are hoping to find a day in January when we could get the whole Core Team together for a day-long meeting and really have a chance to walk around the site, dive into some of the nitty gritty details, review the draft program package, and design work to date. John will connect with Bill to try to find a couple of potential days that would work for them, then we will check with the rest of the team.

Other items: Kate is really hoping to get some clarity on the timeline for summer 2015 since it affects planning now for cabin lodging, and we need to reach resolution about the future of Pine and Strawbale cabins, whether they are to be deconstructed, moved etc. so she can figure out a logistics plan for making that happen. Since we are taking bookings now for summer classes we need to know what lodging will be available and when. Kate is also looking for feedback on the Our Transformation draft document she sent out last week (also attached).