Editorials and posts to social media from the Save the Forest, Build the Voke group have repeatedly contained such egregious falsehoods that responses are required to correct the misinformation related to the location of the building site.
First, the oppositions groups have grown from the typical statement of “not in my backyard” to the special grandstanding and personal feelings of special interest groups. Opponents continue to advocate for a new school on a different site which is simply not feasible.
The District has partnered with the MSBA to gain site, educational planning, and funding approval utilizing the same process that every other school seeking MSBA funding must follow. This process was public, and the project team/District have conducted and attended over one hundred meetings, presentations, hearings and participation in boards and commissions meetings.
The MSBA will not allow the District to reject years’ worth of planning, design and validation for substandard sites with equally challenging environmental tasks. Both alternative sites did not undergo the detailed analysis that the approved location did and certainly would have included much more blasting, environmental impacts to not only non-jurisdictional wetlands but also streams, rivers and wetlands. The sites advocated by the special interest groups have been grossly underestimated and partly based off a pre-feasibility study which includes preliminary design sketches and ideas that were only intended to be used to assist with the development of the District’s Statement of Interest (SOI) to the MSBA. This study was performed prior to the District’s acceptance into the MSBA’s core program and is not related to the approved project.
The C.3 site option selected most closely followed the Educational Program of any of the site options evaluated during the Feasibility Phase. The proposed layout, adjacencies, and building configuration achieved the District’s educational goals and vision. The location of the new school also allows for construction to occur with the least amount of disruption to the existing school of any option and allows for additional athletic fields. The C.3 hilltop option has undergone 2.5 years of design and planning and has cost our member communities $11,000,000 to date, this is the only site option.
The District and project team have proactively taken measures to preserve undisturbed woodlands on the project site to the maximum extent possible. The overall footprint of the school was reduced and an additional floor was added in order to provide more circulation around the building for safety which resulted in the removal of less trees and ledge. The project team have also worked closely with the Conservation Commission for alignment of the driveway and to reduce the width to minimize the impacts to both trees and wetlands. Also, an accessible ramp that traverses from the athletic campus/lower parking lot to the school building/upper parking lot has been included in the project reducing the tree removal and blasting scope of work.
Additionally, the proposed driveway has undergone extensive review by the Wakefield Conservation Commission and their third-party experts in cooperation with project designers and engineers. The driveway has been deemed a necessity by Wakefield representatives and will provide much needed relief on the current traffic flow issues at the bottom of Hemlock Road and the existing Wakefield High School. It has also been remarked in public meetings by Wakefield officials that the relief in which the NEMT project is seeking through the Conservation Commission is not uncommon and has been approved on other Town projects.
The continued misinformation and claims by project opponents is putting one of the largest MSBA grants ever approved in jeopardy and hindering construction mobilization which is critical to avoid further economic and supply chain issues along with extreme cost escalation experienced throughout the country.
NEMT’s student population is one of the most diverse throughout the state. Any further delay will deprive generations of students from (12) communities the ability to seek an alternate to unaffordable college costs and deny many of them with the opportunity to become leaders in their vocational fields. The District and project team are supporting this plan as it is the one and only feasible project, which will undoubtedly provide education and opportunities for generations of students to come.