Question #1:
Good Day Burt,
In my capacity as an At-Large School Committee Woman in Chicopee, kindly let me know the status of the Traffic Study being done on Granby Road, in consideration of the new Barry School being moved into the neighborhood. Also, please let me know if the cost of this study is covered under reimbursement from the state.
This information will be very helpful to our residents, so we thank you for your time and expertise.
Response #1:
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your questions regarding the traffic study, as it relates to the Szetela site. In response to your specific question about the status of the traffic study to be done on Granby Road, this will not occur until the project reaches the schematic design phase (likely January – March 2026). If the Barry ES location is selected as the preferred solution, the traffic study would be performed for that location, and no study would be needed on Granby Road. Regarding reimbursement for the cost of the traffic study, the answer is yes, the MSBA will reimburse the cost of the study at the District’s reimbursement rate (80% of the cost).
The project is currently in the programming phase, meaning that our efforts to date have focused on working with Dr. Ware and his team of educators to establish what types of spaces and how many of each will be required to support their Educational Program (i.e. how many general classrooms, special ed classrooms, types of specials, admin spaces, etc. will be needed for the school). We’re also discussing how the various spaces in the school relate to each other so that we can arrange the plans to function efficiently. With this information, we’re developing a series of diagrammatic building layouts that we can test fit onto each of the sites being considered (Barry and Szetela). For each test fit, we will include a series of evaluation metrics to help highlight the pros and cons of each option. These metrics have not yet been established, but as an example, they will included items such as “Traffic mitigation needed”, “Pedestrian Safety Challenges”, etc. This is what will be used to help the Building Commission determine which option they would like us to develop as the preferred solution (still ahead of the traffic study). MSBA dictates that the traffic study be completed during the Schematic Design Phase, and the reason it isn’t performed before the site is selected is that they don’t want to invest funds into a study on a site that may not be selected. The only way to have a study done for all sites under consideration would be for the city to pay 100% of the cost for any sites which are investigated beyond the location that is ultimately selected for the school.
The School is hosting a Question and Answers page on their website, and I will request that this is added so that the general public has access to this same information.
I trust this provides the information you’re looking for, but should you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out again.
Thank you,
Bert
Bertram W. Gardner IV, AIA, NCARB, MCPPO
Caolo & Bieniek Associates, Inc.
ARCHITECTURE ◾ PLANNING ◾ INTERIOR DESIGN
PRINCIPAL 413-594-2800
521 East Street ∙ Chicopee ∙ MA 01020