It looks as though the new 700-student Monomoy High School might make it into our Pricechopper Hall of Fame. Just two and a half hours after the first cost estimate of $65.4 million was announced at last week's Monomoy Building Committee meeting, $1 million had been pricechopped. The 168,000 sq. ft. building, to be shared by Chatham and Harwich, will no doubt be one of the nicer public school campuses in the country, although more pricechops are promised. Here's what round one brought:
· A 50 percent reduction in outside lighting. No need to see what's lurking in the shadows, it's probably just the Cape Cod bear.
· The removal of 36,000 sq. ft. of parking lots. The burbs are known for sidewalks, bike paths and public transportation so this is no problem. Maybe the school could apply for an anti-obesity grant, the "Monomoy Moves!" initiative.
· The use of linoleum instead of concrete pavers in large parts of the interior. We don't know what pavers are and we're too lazy to google, but we'll assume they aren't structural.
· A thinner parking lot pavement. Is the linoleum being used there as well?
· A reduction of student lockers by 50 percent. So was there an overestimate for lockers before or will students have to share? Here's hoping for the former.
· Re-use of old school pavement as a ground up base for the new roadway system. Is there LEED certification for roads? If so, we see another grant opportunity.
· Monomoy High School cost estimated at $65.4 million [Harwich Oracle]