By Samantha Russell

WESTPORT — The size and facilities planned for a new Long Lots Elementary School, still in the design stage, were the focus of the Long Lots School Building Committee’s meeting Thursday.

The committee, meeting for the first time since May, reviewed the status of plans for the new school that a team of architects and engineers has been working on over the summer.

The team — architect Svigals + Partners, Newfield Construction and town officials — in this “programming’ stage has concentrated on incorporating education specifications set by school officials into a final schematic design.

As that work continues, the committee learned the start of construction, which in early discussions of the $100 million project had estimated beginning this fall, will not get underway until next year. Consequently, the targeted completion date of September 2026 is now also pushed back.

Focusing on the building’s size and facilities to comply with the education specs, “We found a few rooms we needed that we didn’t know we needed,” said Jay Keenan, the committee chairman.

The gross size currently planned for the structure is 125,882 square feet, allowing flexibility for re-allocation and alterations of the overall space, which also will include Stepping Stones Preschool.

“These do represent some changes” to the original specifications, Keenan said, which the Board of Education will have to approve.

Acknowledging constraints posed by the Hyde Lane property — the new building will be built while classes continue in the seven-decade-old school — planners anticipate the new Long Lots will be constructed on roughly the same spot approved in the 8-24 report early this year.

Issues that pose challenges to the final site plan, it was noted, include a pipe that runs beneath the property and  water retention.

With the final design still taking shape, committee members discussed the status of plans so far, including grade levels clustered in groups of five, with fourth graders on the upper left wing, fifth graders on the upper right wing and second and third graders on the school’s lower level. 

Classrooms devoted to specialized instruction, such as music, would also be clustered.

The group favored keeping separate the gym, cafeteria and auditorium rather than any suggested combination of the facilities.

Committee members said a priority for the final design should be maximizing natural lighting throughout the structure, from classrooms to hallways and common spaces such as the cafeteria.

Specifically, it was noted that because of its greenhouse, daylight is a basic criteria for the school’s science lab. Creating a slope by fourth-grade classrooms was also mentioned as a way to introduce more natural light inside.

A planned courtyard offers a “real opportunity to be an outdoor classroom,” Keenan said.

Later this fall, the committee plans to meet with various groups for feedback, including school district administrators, Long Lots staff, Long Lots PTA, neighbors of the property and Westport Community Gardens members.

Samantha Russell is a Westport Journal intern.