LYNNFIELD — In a special townwide vote Tuesday, Lynnfield residents supported a $17 million project to expand and upgrade its elementary schools.
Residents voted 1,316–648 in favor of the plan, which would upgrade the Huckleberry Hill School on 5 Knoll Road and the Summer Street School on 262 Summer Road. The unofficial tally was according to a statement on the town’s Facebook page.
“We are very pleased with the confidence that the citizens of Lynnfield have placed in this school expansion plan and in public education,” wrote the Lynnfield Board of Selectmen in a statement released Tuesday night. “We are committed to working with the School Building Committee to deliver a project that supports the needs of our students and educators and provides quality educational facilities for decades to come.”
The expansion plan will construct two permanent additions to both elementary schools each containing five new classrooms, including one classroom which will be used as an individualized learning space. Two existing classrooms at each of the schools will also be renovated.
The project will also expand the Huckleberry Hill School gym, will expand the parking lots and build new fields at each school, and will construct a new playground at Summer Street.The vote exempted the town from funding regulations that limit municipal funding, allowing them to fund the projects. The project is receiving no funding from the state and would be funded entirely by the town.
The decision will lead to a property tax increase which officials estimate will cost residents an average of $205 per household annually — a total of $4,100.
The polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m, with Town Clerk Linda Emerson reporting a steady trickle of voters throughout the day. Voters were required to wear masks and socially distance during the special town election, which took place at the Lynnfield High School gym.
Around the lunch hour, business was light with few residents trickling in.
“We did not have a rush, and it’s been rather slow, but overall It’s been going good,” Emerson said. “Mail-in was quite a success.”
Emerson estimated that approximately 2,400 ballots had been mailed to residents and more than 1,270 ballots had been returned by Tuesday afternoon.
To count toward the election, ballots needed to be physically returned to Town Hall by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
More than 600 residents turned out for a Special Town Meeting Nov. 21 to approve the proposed expansion project. The town overwhelmingly supported the proposal 386-17, well above the two-thirds supermajority threshold needed for approval, to set up Tuesday’s town-wide vote.
Officials anticipate that the project will be completed by the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @g_scrimgeour.
