Washington College gets approval for new academic building

CHESTERTOWN Washington College submitted a final site plan for its new academic building at 215 Washington Ave. to the Chestertown Planning Commission on Oct. 15.

The building is to be constructed on the site of the former Chestertown High School, built in 1915, which also served as Chestertown Elementary School from the late 1950s to 1973, when it became the board of education office building. Washington College acquired the property in 2012, for $850,000 plus $1 million in scholarships for county students.

The new building is to occupy the part of the property facing Washington Avenue. The back portion, formerly the playing field for the schools, is zoned R-2 residential. The college has announced it plans to use that portion of the property for geothermal heating and cooling wells. No construction is planned on that part of the site, which neighbors have said they want to keep open as a community park.

Construction is to take place in two phases. The first phase, scheduled to begin next year, will be a 14,400 square foot rectangular building on the southwest portion of the property, replacing the existing parking lot. The building will house the anthropology department, with faculty offices, a large classroom, a conference room and laboratories for anthropology and environmental studies.

Reid Raudenbush, the colleges head of physical plant, said the goal is to open the building for classes for the fall semester of 2016. We are interviewing for a construction manager right now, he said in an email, Thursday, Oct. 16. Construction drawings should be completed by mid-November, and, assuming all permits are in order, work is expected to start April-ish, Raudenbush said. That would include demolition of the old school building.

The new building, which will combine brick and synthetic wood siding, will be roughly the same height as the one it replaces. The first phase will be oriented with its long side on an east-west axis, with the end facing Washington Avenue finished in brick. The roof will be synthetic slate.

The 18,600-square-foot second phase will match the first phase of the building in materials and design. According to the materials submitted to the planning commission, the college is seeking to achieve LEED Gold certification for the buildings energy usage and environmental impact.

When the entire project is completed, it will be a U-shaped structure with the open end facing Washington Avenue. A knee-high brick wall is planned for the front of the property, along the sidewalk.

The plan also includes plantings of trees, shrubs and grasses, many of them on a lawn between the building and Washington Avenue and in the space between the wings. Trees will also screen the building from the adjacent residential properties. About half the plant varieties to be installed are native species, such as red maple, scarlet oak, American holly and sweetgum.

The parking will be toward the northwest corner of the building site. For the first phase, the lot will accommodate nine cars. The second phase will add another 10 spaces, according to the colleges submission to the planning commission. The lot will be for faculty and staff only. Students will be encouraged to walk to the building from the main campus, said town Zoning Administrator Kees de Mooy.

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Washington College gets approval for new academic building