Lincoln Academy plans to switch sites for its new dormitory and applied technology center, a move that will reduce costs and eliminate a zoning conflict.
The Newcastle high school now hopes to break ground on both projects in the spring, Lincoln Academy Head of School David Sturdevant said.
The original plans placed the applied technology and engineering center in the vicinity of the staff parking area, near the third-base line of the baseball diamond. The dormitory was going to be on the northeast side of the track, built into a steep hill.
Now, the school plans to swap the building sites. “It’s not exactly footprint for footprint, but it’s basically the same location,” Sturdevant said. The buildings will not be visible from Academy Hill Road.
Several nearby residents had opposed the dorm due to its size, architecture and the increase in activity it would bring to the neighborhood.
The switch will also eliminate a conflict between the dormitory and Newcastle zoning, which restricts the height of buildings to 40 feet.
The new site will allow for an in-ground basement instead of a walkout basement, which will reduce the height of the building from 58 feet to less than 40 feet. The exterior of the building will otherwise look essentially the same as in the original plan.
“These are preliminary ideas, but these are the ideas we’re pursuing,” Sturdevant said.
The switch also reduces the cost of the technology center. The school was going to have to excavate the building site more extensively than originally thought to remove stumps and other unstable fill materials.
The switch will remove the need for excavating the technology center site. This, along with design changes to the center, will reduce the costs of the project.
The cost savings is important for the center as, unlike the dormitory, which the school will pay for with boarding program revenue, the center relies on fundraising.
“We continue to work on funding” for the project, Sturdevant said.
The Newcastle high school withdrew its original application to the town Oct. 4.
“We look forward to submitting a new site plan for planning board review in the near future,” architect Tor Glendinning said in a letter to Newcastle Planning Board Chairman David Bailey.
The school’s plan had elicited strong negative feedback, primarily from the neighbors. Other residents defended the project as a potential benefit to the school and the community.
The school needs the dormitory in order to continue to grow the school’s boarding program, school officials have said, and the school needs the boarding program to offset revenue loss as a result of declining local enrollment.
The school originally planned to open the dormitory in fall 2013. The change of location and the delay in the project schedule will push this date back, but the school still plans to welcome more boarding students next year, Sturdevant said.
“We’re still exploring our options” for student housing, he said.
