July 2020 The Reporter
East Providence News Briefs
The East Providence
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Serving the Community and Businesses of East Providence
New EPHS $2.8M Under Budget and On Time
The East Providence School Committee accepted the recommendation of the building committee in late June, which sets the project Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) at $154,388.87 million. This rate is $6 million under original cost estimates and comes in at $2.8 million under budget. Items previously removed such as field turf and lighting have been added back to the project. City Councilman and former School Committee member Nathan Cahoon cochaired the building committee with School Committee member Joel Monteiro. The cochairs were reached for comment after the meeting. “This is great, great news for the City of East Providence,” said Nate Cahoon. “East Providence is building a brand new high school. The new high school is state of the art. It is safe. It is secure, modern, flexible, sustainable and efficient. It is as remarkable in appearance as it is in function. It will be the centerpiece of our City’s renaissance for the next several generations,” Cahoon added. “The new school will deliver everything that was promised. From the earliest days of design, the most critical concern has always been getting the building that our students, faculty and staff need, and that our community deserves,” said Cahoon & Monteiro. “With the approval of the GMP, that promise has been fulfilled. The new EPHS will feature all of the classrooms, career and technical space, science labs, artistic facilities, fields and gymnasiums that Townies demanded,” writes the building committee. “With the approval of the GMP, we can state with certainty that the new building will be ready in time for the 2021-22 school year, again, as promised. Also, as promised, installation of all new fields, and the demolition and removal of the old building will be complete in time for the 2022-23 school year. The building will be completed UNDER budget. We are ecstatic to report that this price is approximately $2.8M less than we have programmed, planned, and scheduled for,” said Joel Monteiro. The committee had cut the step of using turf for the new on-campus fields and lighting early on. However the good financial news means that the artificial turf and field lighting is returned. The GMP also projects that the building will complete with a Minority-owned / Woman-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) participation rate of close to 16%, exceeding the state-required goal of 10% in all state-funded procurements.
“We all know that large government projects can run late and over budget. Our project has enjoyed an enormous amount of support from state and city leaders. And our architect (Ai3), construction manager (Gilbane), owner’s project manager (Peregrine) and host of trade professionals have performed in exemplary fashion,” said Cahoon. Cahoon and Monteiro stressed the critical role of the volunteer building committee which met weekly to oversee the work. They are Steve Amoroso; Kathy Crowley; Craig Enos; Anthony Feola; Sandy Forand; John McNamee; Gene Oakland; Benjamin Russell; Nick Shattuck; Manny Vinhateiro; Shani Wallace; and Bob Weygand. “If you see any of these amazing Townies about town, please take a moment to thank them for their service. They represent everything right about democracy and Government. They are the reason we’re on track,” said the co-chairs. An expanded version of this story with some historical background can be found for free at ReporterToday.com.
Planning Board Gives Initial Approval for Metacomet Zone Change
The city Planning Board met on June 24, 2020 and conducted a public hearing on the petition of Marshall Development LLC, to eventually allow for a mixed-use development for the use described as retail, office, residential and multi-family residential. This is a first in a series of steps required to allow Marshall Development LLC to amend the “Generalized Land Use Map of the City’s Comprehensive Plan” to change the Metacomet Golf Course from “Open Space” to a new sub-district of the East Providence Waterfront Special Development District to be given the designation “Veteran’s Memorial Parkway II”. Eventual approval by the City Council could allow for development to include a hotel, shops, housing, retail and office space, etc. The hearing conducted on “Zoom” was to deny or approve a recommendation to the City Council to change zoning. Residents could call in questions and comments or do so via computer. Some residents were allowed to enter City Hall council chambers to view the meeting on a monitor, following all social distancing guidelines by Rhode Island. Over four hours, planning board members had questions regarding the scope of the project. Some questioned the need continued on next page...
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