SWAMPSCOTT — Residents expect to vote on a proposal to build a new elementary school at the 2021 annual Town Meeting, and there is much work to be done, even if meetings must be done virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The School Building Committee held a virtual meeting Tuesday night to share that the project intended to replace Hadley Elementary School on Redington Street — has narrowed its potential building locations to five sites. The meeting focused on traffic, sidewalks, road width, crosswalks, and other vehicle and pedestrian traffic-related considerations.
According to Catherine Porter Roberts, a member of the School Building Committee, traffic was a crucial factor in narrowing down the potential sites for a new school.
“At each of our community forums, we’ve had repeated concerns about traffic,” Porter Roberts said.
Town-owned land was evaluated for its suitability, and eliminated due to factors such as having conservation land or protected land, difficult topography, existing buildings on-site, and size.
Hadley Elementary School
The current Hadley Elementary School site is one site being considered. The Redington Street site is being considered for a number of reasons, including being in a central location with many students living nearby, minimizing the amount of driving it would take to get to the school.
Hadley Elementary School’s current enrollment is 323 students, and the site is suitable for a traffic load of about 290 to 305 cars entering school grounds.
Early in the meeting, there was a consensus that a new school would ideally be located roughly in the center of the student population’s homes, with Hadley Elementary School and the Department of Public Works site deemed the best sites in that regard.
There is concern about “significant queueing” of cars at the intersection of Humphrey Street and Redington Street. On-street parking is available within 10 feet of a crosswalk to the school, which may hinder drivers’ views of pedestrians. The amount of on-street parking also narrows the roadway and could cause hazards.
DPW site
An inherent challenge of the Department of Public Works site on Paradise Road is the department building is currently there. However, the DPW site is considered, along with Hadley Elementary School, one of the best options for minimizing driving distances for many of the students’ families, being located centrally among the student population’s homes.
There is an existing signal-controlled crosswalk at the site, with signage for pedestrians. Also, the site would be connected to the future Swampscott Rail Trail, a project the town is currently working on.
There are some drawbacks to the DPW site, however, including an unappealing walking environment, and an “unformalized driveway that creates unsafe conditions for pedestrians on the sidewalk,” according to the architect firm Lavallee Bresinger, which is working with the town to come up with a design.
Swampscott Middle School
The middle school is another site being considered, although it is farther away from the center of the student population than the first two options. The school has a current enrollment of 725 students, and can accommodate around 650 to 690 cars accessing the site.
The school has a brand new snack shack, and an existing designated pickup lane. There is also existing on-site parking for staff. Furthermore, there is an “underutilized” parking lot on the northern portion of the campus.
Some drawbacks to the middle school site include steep grades and excessive running water. The wide driveway at the school has accessibility ramps, but they are not currently ADA compliant, which would have to be addressed if an elementary school were to be built there. There is also no sidewalk opposite the middle school on Forest Avenue, which should be considered for students who would walk to school.
Phillips Park
Phillips Park does not currently have a school building on site, allowing architects flexibility in their design and construction. Phillips Park is also located in a central area of town, on Humphrey Street.
There is an existing signal-controlled crosswalk that could be used if a school were to be built at the Phillips Park site.
However, there are extremely steep grades in the area, such as on Millet Road. Grades that are too steep can be a problem for making schools fully accessible. Also, the steep grades north of Humphrey Street would require extra retaining walls to be built, an added expense to the school that is expected to be partially paid for by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
Stanley School
Stanley School on Whitman Road has a current enrollment of 240 students, and the site is suitable for 215 to 230 cars to access.
The site has existing long-term staff parking, and the town-owned property grounds are much larger than the existing building’s footprint.
However, there is a lack of pedestrian signage and crosswalks in the area, which would have to be addressed if the site were chosen. Also, historic trees in the area encroach on the sidewalks, and there is nearby wetland that would have to be factored into any build.
The next School Building Committee meeting will also be done virtually on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. At that meeting, possible school configurations at each site will be discussed. The meeting may be attended in the following ways:
Zoom
Residents may visit www.zoom.us and access the meeting using the ID 911 5416 1718 and the password 152590. The following numbers may be used to call into the meeting via telephone (ID and password are the same): 1(312) 626-6799, 1(646) 558-8656, 1(346) 248-7799, 1(669) 900-9128, 1(253) 215-8782, or 1(301) 715-8592. The number that works to call into the meeting may depend on caller location.
Cable TV
Comcast channel 15
Verizon channel 40
Cable online
tv.swampscottps.org
Youtube
www.youtube.com/c/swampscottpublicschools
