PEABODY — The city’s new public-safety building, which would unite the police department, fire headquarters, and emergency management under one roof, is moving forward at the site first proposed by city officials, adjacent to the existing station and near the Higgins Middle School, despite the strong objections of one member of the School Committee.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt first pitched the new building during his State of the City address earlier this year saying, “It’s time Peabody had a state-of-the-art complex.” In the months since, Bettencourt has received City Council backing for several initial steps of the project. The new building will occupy what is now a parking lot adjacent to Firefighter Jim Rice field.
Bettencourt said the city identified that property in part because of its centrality and because it would not require the city to actually pay to acquire land.
The only catch was that that site was technically school property, and thus for the proposal to move ahead, the School Committee needed to take a vote to turn the property over to the city. That fact triggered quite a bit of discussion amongst committee members, including Bettencourt, who serves as chair. Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne in particular expressed numerous concerns about the location of the new building and its impact on operations at Higgins Middle School.
Dunne, who chaired the Higgins Building Committee for seven years, repeatedly expressed concerns with the amount of available parking at the school, particularly with the loss of the existing lot, the potential for increased traffic in an already congested area, and the area’s ability to handle stormwater once the new building is constructed. Throughout several committee meetings, Dunne expressed concerns and eventually submitted written questions to Bettencourt and Tecton Architects, the owner’s project manager facilitating planning, design, and eventually construction.
And while the committee spent more than an hour discussing the proposal with Tecton last week, Dunne said she did not receive satisfactory answers to her questions.
“I really and truly did not get all of my questions answered to my satisfaction,” she said in an interview Monday. “Answers were given but many of the details were not forthcoming.”
On the parking issue, Dunne said she had regularly seen dozens of cars parked in the lot during dismissal at the Higgins, contrary to a survey conducted by Tecton that found roughly 15 cars parked in the lot at a time. The day after the vote, Dunne said, she counted 54 cars in that lot.
“Things like that really did bother me,” she said.
Dunne was also frustrated by the lack of defined bounds of the land the committee relinquished, suggesting that it could lead to jurisdictional issues down the line where it is unclear whether the school department or the city is responsible for upkeep and maintenance at certain spots.
While Dunne emphasized that she supported the need for a new facility for the police department “as a citizen,” as a committee member she simply could not back the location proposed by Bettencourt.
“It’s going to negatively affect our school operation,” she said. “People will be inconvenienced when you come to the school.”
“I’ll be very happy if everything works out,” she added. “But I’m not holding my breath.”
For his part, Bettencourt has repeatedly acknowledged that the land does not come without its concerns and said fears over the amount of parking available on the site are legitimate. But, at least publicly, the mayor never wavered off the site he first proposed.
Bettencourt was able to secure the support of both Superintendent of Schools Josh Vadala and Higgins Middle School Principal Todd Bucey on the proposal, endorsements that likely played a role in the committee getting on board with the idea of turning over the land.
During the meeting, Vadala said school officials were not bracing for any major disruptions and had not planned any changes to traffic flow.
The future of the existing police station though, is not clear.
Bettencourt suggested during the meeting that it could be used as school administrative offices — relocating the central office from its home on Lowell Street — part of a broader “campus environment” in the area with the Higgins, the new building, and the offices. But, he said, more work would need to be done to determine whether or not the building would be fit for that use.
Committee member Joe Amico, who lives in the neighborhood nearest the site, ultimately made the motion to relinquish control of the site but not before he appeared to get frustrated with the ongoing questioning of the project’s viability. Amico sought assurances from the architects that parking and drainage would not be an issue with the new building, seeming to attempt to assuage Dunne’s concerns.
“I’m seeing comments and concerns about two things that we’re assured will be minimal impacts,” he said.
The committee ultimately moved to “relinquish control” of the land described in the presentation delivered by the owner’s project manager on Oct. 10, a motion that passed by a 5-1 margin, with only Dunne voting against.
