Building Committee prepares for new Central School
Published on September 29th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - How do you build a school in the backyard of an existing school, in close proximity two other schools, and in one of the most heavily trafficked sections of town?
That was the question the School Building Committee grappled with on Wednesday night, as it tried to come up with a traffic flow and parking plan for the construction phase of the new Central School, slated to begin next spring.
The new Central School, which will be located off of Pomeworth Street and behind the Middle School, poses unique challenges to the committee which is embarking on its second of four projects for the Stoneham elementary school rebuilding project.
While construction of the South School, the first in the project, is taking place on an isolated site, with that school's population moved to Stoneham High School for the duration, the new Central School will be constructed amidst the everyday activity of the Middle School.
Space on the Middle School campus will be considerably constricted once the construction area is sectioned off and construction vehicles, equipment and trailers are added.
At a recent meeting, Bob Corning, of the landscape architectural firm of Geller Associates, presented the new Central School site plan to the Conservation Commission and related issues were discussed, such as the creation of a construction edge, drainage and grading.
"I think that meeting went pretty well," he reported, adding that the ConsCom was clear in its position to protect the wetlands behind the property. While the construction is expected to encroach on the wetlands buffer zone, Geller relayed that a Notice of Intent must be filed and the ConsCom will host public hearing and visit the site prior to voting on the request.
Geller proposed two traffic schemes for vehicular and school bus traffic during construction, both aimed at easing volume and congestion in the area while maintaining student safety.
The first plan proposed entrance onto the site via the existing side driveway at the Middle School, with a student drop off at the rear of the building. Continuing access back out to Central Street was illustrated via an access road looping behind the neighboring property (the former Mann Chemical site). This access road would require ConsCom approval since it involves use of the railroad right-of-way and further encroachment on protected land.
Middle School principal Jim Andreottola expressed concern with that plan, however. He stated that currently 80 to 90 per cent of Middle School vehicular traffic uses the back entrance off of Pomeworth Street. Since that area will be overtaken by much of the construction, he said diverting the Middle School traffic out onto Central Street near the Elm Street intersection would cause severe bottlenecks.
Committee Chairman Dan Hogan concurred, stating that a previous traffic study determined that intersection to be the most congested in town in the morning.
"The best thing to do is to get people away from that intersection."
Likewise, committee member Steve O'Neil stated that despite the findings from that study, indicating that area intersections (primarily Central/Elm and Central/William) could accommodate the addition of the new Central School on that site, the study "did not address the interim impact of construction."
The second option proposed a narrow, one-way access road from Pomeworth Street, running alongside the construction area onto the Middle School lot. School bus drop-off for both plans suggested use of the side and front entrances of the Middle School.
Other creative alternatives were discussed, such as offsite parking and shuttling of faculty to the Middle School; the use of Merrow Lane for vehicular drop off of students; and increased busing of students, at the town's expense, to limit vehicular traffic on the site.
With the new Central School slated to open in September, 2001, the problem of traffic and congestion in the area is not expected to go away soon after.
The old Central School will host the Robin Hood and Colonial Park Schools populations while both of those schools undergo renovation during the third and fourth phases of the rebuilding program. Traffic and congestion problems are likely to continue with four schools operating in one busy area.
The committee voted unanimously to direct Corning to pursue a combination of the two traffic options, which will include filing with the ConsCom.
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