LYNN — City officials met with designers and construction managers on Zoom Thursday evening to outline six prospective sites for the new Pickering Middle School, three of which the committee prioritized as top choices.
Members of the New Pickering Middle School Building Committee with potential locations at Gowdy Park, Rockdale Avenue, Broadway, Magnolia Park, the site of the Former Union Hospital, and land next to the current Pickering School are being considered as potential sites.
Although all options are, theoretically, on the table, the committee identified the private sites on Broadway and Rockdale Avenue, along with Magnolia Park, as three areas of focus during an overview presentation from Raymond Design Associates President Gene Raymond.
Some of the main considerations for site selection, Raymond said, were sites’ size, configuration, utilities, topography, permitting conflicts, planning for traffic and road access, as well as each site’s district location and neighborhood impact. The Massachusetts School Building Association (MSBA) predicts that Pickering’s student enrollment will nearly double within the next 10 years.
Mayor Jared Nicholson, after having been asked why the Former Union Hospital Site, which has been permitted to become an assisted living facility, the current Pickering site, which is too small for a new school, and Gowdy Park, which is protected as park land, were still on the list, said that the committee needs to show the MSBA that it has explored all potential options.
“In order to show the MSBA that the school building committee has really done its due diligence, we’re going to have to get to at least a couple of sites that, you know, right off the bat, are not going to be great contenders,” Nicholson said.
Raymond went on to provide the pros and cons of each potential site. The private site on Broadway, which is close to the Peabody Town Line, as well as the old Pickering School site. Raymond said that while the site is in the same district as the current Pickering School, and is not protected as Article 97 park land, it is not easily accessible by road, and would also require eminent domain taking, which the MSBA would not fund.
“Maybe transportation is as good as these sites, but you know, it’s not as bad as those sites,” Raymond said.
The Rockdale Avenue site, which the city explored as an option for the Pickering School in 2016, would also require eminent domain taking, and is far away from public roadway access.
“We’re gonna take a closer look with our transportation people just to see if Rockdale, or some of these other areas, might provide a logical way to get into the site, but we are worried about access roads through neighborhoods, the taking required, and whatever that costs,” Raymond said.
Similar to the Broadway location, the Rockdale Avenue site is also unprotected by Article 97, and sits within close proximity to the current school.
Magnolia Park, Raymond said, is environmentally protected under Article 97, and would require flood mitigation efforts. Additionally, the site sits above a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) pipeline, which would pose difficulties during construction.
The committee aims to have selected a site before Dec. 21, when they will meet with the MSBA to present their findings. At 6 p.m. December 15 at Pickering Middle School, the committee will hold a public hearing on the potential sites. Ward 5 City Councilor Dianna Chakoutis said that given the controversy over the 2017 proposed Pickering School construction, the committee should not be surprised if “half the town shows up.”
Lynn Stapleton, a project executive with LeftField, a Boston-based school-construction management company, said that if the city can work around the MSBA’s deadlines, they will be able to have a school up and running by the Fall of 2026.
“It shouldn’t take more than 25 months, but our target is getting in for the Fall of 2026. We just wanted to show you how that would be achievable,” Stapleton said.
