SWAMPSCOTT — The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn has hired legal representation in response to its fears of a potential easement over the church’s property for the new proposed elementary school building.
Attorney Carl Goodman sent a letter to the School Building Committee and Select Board on April 30 detailing the church’s concerns over the proposal, which would route traffic coming out of the school through the property at 101 Forest Ave.
“We have suggested several alternative ideas to the SBC, as have our neighbors,” the letter says. “If the Town, nevertheless, insists on proceeding with the now-threatened taking by eminent domain of an easement over the Church property, the Town should be aware that the Church has not changed its position in opposition to any taking of its land.”
If approved by a fall town meeting and townwide vote, the proposed elementary school, on the site of the current Stanley School, would replace all three elementary schools in town and have a capacity of 900 students. According to previous presentations by the SBC, the current design of the school would require traffic to exit through the church’s property during busy drop-off and pickup times, but the road would be closed at all other times, forcing cars to exit the way they came on Whitman Road.
While the town has not said definitively that it will take the land by eminent domain if necessary, the topic has been brought up at several community meetings, and Select Board Chair Peter Spellios said at a campaign forum last month that he was open to the idea as a last resort to ensure that the school would be built.
The SBC submitted a proposal for the $97.5 million school building to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for potential reimbursement on May 5. The MSBA, a quasi-independent government authority created to fund capital improvement projects in the state’s public schools, does not reimburse costs related to land purchases or eminent domain.
According to Goodman’s letter, the church has not received communication from the town about the issue since a March 11 phone call from Spellios.
Goodman said the church has also not yet received a response to the letter, which spells out several specific concerns about the proposal, including environmental worries and traffic issues which go beyond cars coming through the property. The letter also expressed fears that people would park on the church property to go into the school, or that pedestrians and bicycles would use the easement for access to the building, not just to exit during approved times.
“For many school parents, despite posted and advertised rules, what works for them is all that matters,” the letter says. “Current traffic and parking restrictions are ignored now. Realistically, how will the Town and the School Committee effectively enforce these traffic and parking rules?”
In an interview with The Item last week, SBC Chair Suzanne Wright said that the board is continuing to study the potential traffic impacts of the school, and emphasized the importance of the project for improving the education of the town’s elementary-school students.
“In order to provide the best safety for our kids, we have to provide another access route out of our schools,” she said.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald echoed this in a statement, saying that the new elementary school was one of the most important investments the community would make in the coming decades.
“The safety of our children is a paramount objective for this project. The school design team and traffic engineer have identified significant safety and operational benefits from an exit for the new school onto Forest Avenue using the rear portion of the existing UU church parking lot and driveway,” he said. “The Town is committed to working with the church to ensure that any easement is completed with minimal impact to its property.”
Goodman’s letter also lists demands for the town if they plan to continue negotiations with the church, including lump sum and ongoing compensation for expenses related to the easement, comprehensive insurance, and assurance that the easement will not be expanded at any point in the future. The town must also fulfill the promises that it previously made, including providing a traffic officer and enforcing traffic and parking restrictions.
Goodman told The Item that negotiations could not continue until the church sees a formal, written proposal from the town.
“There’s never been a negotiation, and there’s never been a specific, detailed request,” he said. “There can’t be a negotiation with a moving target and when the party seeking something hasn’t put in a formal proposal.”
