SAUGUS — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday to place parking restrictions on neighborhoods surrounding the new middle-high school in an effort to reduce the number of students who park their cars in front of residential homes during school hours.
Beginning soon, street parking will no longer be allowed on Orchard Avenue, Farmland Road, Highland Park, Meadow Lane, Apple Lane, or Highland Avenue between the hours of 7 and 8:30 a.m.
Highland Avenue will also become a one-way street, heading from Vine Street to Pearce Memorial Drive, between the hours of 1 and 5 p.m.
“With the no parking, and with COVID becoming a thing of the past, I think we’re going to see ridiculous improvements,” Selectman Jeff Cicolini said Wednesday. “I don’t see how it can get worse. It can only get better.”
During a Board of Selectmen meeting also attended by Superintendent of Schools Dr. David DeRuosi and Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli last week, several residents of Highland and Orchard avenues requested that officials find a solution to the influx of cars the area has seen since the middle-high school first welcomed students inside last month.
Among resident concerns was the influx of cars parked along surrounding side streets, which several said would prevent any emergency vehicles from arriving at certain homes should they become necessary.
Many also expressed frustration that extensive traffic jams, which occur during student drop-off and pick-up hours, have forced them to rearrange their work schedules to ensure they’re able to make it out of their neighborhoods in a reasonable amount of time.
“My husband and I have had to adjust our work schedules because it’s virtually impossible for us to leave our driveway from 7:30 to 8 a.m., and it’s virtually impossible for us to return between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.,” Highland Avenue resident Donna Orsini told the board last week. “Cars block all the residents’ driveways surrounding us, so if an emergency vehicle tried to enter my property, they’d be unable.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, School Committee Chair Thomas Whittredge, who also attended last week’s forum, reiterated that he believes the issue needs time to work itself out, noting that the new building has only been in operation for a few weeks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has imposed unique restrictions on the district.
“We only have two buses operating right now. We’re down four other buses, and with COVID we can’t have early drop off because we can’t have anyone in the building (early),” he said.
Whittredge also previously stated that roughly 40 more parking spots will become available once the construction company tasked with finishing the building moves its equipment.
Cicolini said the new rules will go into effect as soon as the town is able to commission proper signage, and the board emphasized that it will reconvene next school year if traffic continues to be an issue at the complex and in surrounding neighborhoods.
“If this doesn’t work out, we can come back to the table again and see how everything progresses, but I do think this is really going to help out,” Selectwoman Debra Panetta said.
Cicolini added: “Let this thing play out. We can always make changes. This isn’t a perpetual vote that stays for eternity.
“If it stinks and it doesn’t work, you come back to the drawing board and make another change.”
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
