Next Sessions: I will be scheduling additional sessions later in the year
As a member of the School Building Committee, I am keen to hear from residents about their questions, hopes, and concerns about the LHS project. I’ll be holding a series of drop-in coffee chats over the next few weeks in addition to my weekly Zoom office hours. Thank you to the dozens of people who came to my first sessions at Emery Park and by the Visitors Center as well as those that came to dedicated Zoom sessions.
Pick up a coffee or pastry at a shop in the center and come sit with me to share your thoughts. I’ll post additional dates on my web site https://joepato.org as well as any rain date adjustments should the weather interfere.
Previous Sessions:
- Emery Park benches, Tuesday 8/27 2pm-4pm
- Picnic Tables in front of the Visitors Center, Thursday 8/29 1pm-2pm
- Tuesday 9/10 @ 6:30-8:00pm – small community room in the new Police Department lobby
- Saturday 9/14 @ 4:00-5:00PM – Emery Park benches.
Joe,
I wish I could speak with you at one of your coffee chats but unfortunately can’t/couldn’t make it work.
Unfortunately SMMA has more or less used the designs they had developed for Belmont, where there was a much larger available space to work with, and put them on our fields and pushed these plans forward (look at Belmont’s HS, same curved wings, copy and paste). It seems that no effort was made to develop an option that is a 100% new build only on land that encompasses the little league field, the football field, the practice field (farmers market) and the wooded knoll next to the current fieldhouse (the areas that are already separated from the main center recreation complex by driveways, roads and fences). They have put us in a situation where we either divide our fields completely, including a baseball field that is in excellent condition AND already has quality lighting (works great in the fall for overflow for soccer/ultimate when days are short) or we are forced into a prolonged construction and disruption by building in phases on the current foot print. Obviously a 100% new build will use some field space but using the baseball field is not necessary.
Trees on the knoll are not native and any wetland intrusion, which are not natural, can be recovered in other areas (check with the environmentalists, they will agree).
Can any of the current designs be repositioned? It seems that most people who have been involved in the process are not happy with any of the designs, mainly due to the positioning of the new-build positioning.
Last, Central Offices should not be at the HS. Central Office would require more parking and likely an expensive parking ramp. HS should be built with the minimum number of parking spaces possible.
I’d like to be informed of the next drop in chat.