An Update Letter from the Provost – Brad Stewart, May 16, 2019

Hello All,

Thank you to those of you who have participated in the Catherine and Isiah Leggett Math and Science Building design charrettes. We are grateful for your thoughtful contributions over the past year that directly informed the building’s design. During the process, the community provided more than 500 unique questions and suggestions, and each piece of feedback received a response from the building project team.

Starting this summer, you will have more opportunities to engage with the project team, including two more design charrettes to continue refining the work already done. We are striving to schedule these design charrettes for June or early July. In the weeks ahead, we will also announce a series of project update forums, during which you can learn about the construction process and mitigation measures.

Following the recent approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board and review from the College’s Board of Trustees, the building project team is working on additional refinements to the design in a way that continues to meet or exceed Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard’s design directives—initial commitments that have guided the process.

Many of you joined us for an ice cream social on April 23, 2019 to meet members of the Barton Malow Company team, who will serve as the construction manager for the Leggett building. Concurrent with finalization of the building design, the construction manager will start preparations for a series of pre-construction/site preparation activities to help ensure the project progresses as planned to meet the opening in the fall of 2022. These activities include relocating faculty and staff, soil boring collection that started this week, decommissioning Falcon Hall—including closing of the pool—and Science South, site analysis, materials abatement, and leading, ultimately, to demolition likely in late summer. Conducting these activities concurrently with finalization of the design will ensure that, when the design is finalized, major construction activities are able to commence in a timely fashion.

The College remains committed to conducting all the construction-related activities in a manner that uses the most modern techniques that are safe, protect the environment, and respect the neighborhood that we share. As activities begin, we invite you to visit the project website to learn more about them and see relevant background materials.

Throughout the project, there will be a number of ways to engage with our project team. We hope you will follow along with our progress and let us know when you have questions or concerns.

• To find the most up-to-date project information, visit montgomerycollege.edu/tpss-design. All project updates and meeting materials will be posted online.
• If you have questions or comments related to the design or construction, please email community@montgomerycollege.edu.
• To receive regular project updates, email community@montgomerycollege.edu. You may also use the website form to join our mailing list.
• Arrange for a meeting with members of the project team or a site tour.
• A construction manager hotline, which you can use to voice urgent questions or concerns, will be announced once activities begin.

We invite you to continue to submit comments online or by email. I look forward to our continued work together to balance the needs of our neighbors, students, and fiscal prudence on the Leggett building project. As Dr. Pollard wrote in her September 2017 letter, please help us get this important project right. Again, we thank you for your participation, engagement, and support.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Brad Stewart
Vice President & Provost
Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus
Montgomery College
240-567-1312