PROVIDENCE – Plans to construct two new school buildings in the city are moving forward, with one project receiving final approval from the city’s Plan Commission on Tuesday evening. However, some conditions for the projects were attached after a lengthy discussion.
The commission signed off on the final plan for construction of a new Frank D. Spaziano Middle School to be built next door to
the new Spaziano Elementary School on Eastwood Avenue, city Deputy Planning Director Robert Azar told Providence Business News on Wednesday. According to plans filed with the city and put together by GM2 Associates Inc. and Tecton Architects, the $34.5 million new Spaziano Middle School will be 35,850 square feet in size and house approximately 300 students.
Along with several classrooms for grades 6-8, the new Spaziano Middle School would have a gymnasium and cafeteria, STEAM and art classrooms and a media technology center across two levels. The new Spaziano Middle School is expected to be completed by next spring, according to the Providence Public School District.
But Azar said the commission wanted more information as to how traffic circulation would work with the schools located in a dense neighborhood area and for PPSD officials to converse with traffic engineers to determine a best traffic pattern. He said traffic will increase with both buses and parents dropping off and picking up children from the schools.
Azar also confirmed the commission also gave its blessing on the master and preliminary plans for the current Harry Kizirian Elementary School building to be torn down and a new school building be built in its place at 60 Camden Ave. Early plans call for the estimated $55.2 million project to demolish the current school and build a new one. They also show that the new elementary school building will be three stories high and 50 feet tall, the maximum height allowed within the zoning area.
While early approval on the project was granted by the commissioners, Azar said additional work is needed. The commissioners, Azar said, want to see coordination between school officials and the city’s traffic engineers in that there’s a proposal by PPSD to make traffic directional changes to Camden Avenue to accommodate the new school. The proposal, Azar said, would make a “better queuing of vehicles.”
But Azar told PBN that would be a “complicated proposal” to implement and would require a review from both the city and state, and the commissioners asked school officials to continue their dialogue with traffic engineers on that proposal. “That [traffic change is] not something that can happen immediately,” Azar said.
Also, Azar said the city forester wants to protect trees on the school property’s north side that is close to the construction zone. If the trees die either during or two years after the school’s construction, or are removed, the tress will need to be replaced by PPSD, Azar said.
And, the city engineer would need to approve the stormwater plan for the Kizirian project, Azar said. Overall, he said it will be at least a few months before the Kizirian project would be brought forth for final approval.
Both projects are part of the city’s ongoing $300 million effort to either refurbish aging school buildings or replace them with new structures.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
