March 1, 2002

Officials not giving up on WHS fields

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

Despite a Zoning Board of Appeals decision last month that effectively killed their original plan, town officials will continue to search for a way to build more athletic fields behind the high school.

At a roundtable discussion on the project held last week at the senior center, Town Administrator Michael Boynton outlined three possible scenarios for selectmen to consider in the next few months.

Their options will most likely include scaling back the original five-field plan by one or two fields, keeping the same plan but changing its financial structure so that taxpayers shoulder some of the cost, or looking to build the fields somewhere else in town, he said.

Selectmen had convened the roundtable discussion after the ZBA’s rejection of their application to remove sand and gravel from behind the high school threw into question their ability to continue with the fields project as it was approved by Town Meeting.

Of the three scenarios outlined by Boynton, the least likely seemed to be that the fields will end up somewhere else in town. Town officials and board members were nearly unanimous in expressing their preference for the high school site.

The high school site is an accessible central location that will be easy for students to get to after school, they said. Locating all of the high school fields in one central complex will also make it easier for the parks department to maintain.

Plus, it is the only one of the 19 locations proposed by the recreation committee that is eligible for state reimbursement.

Recreation Committee Chairman Joe LaVita said that locating the fields at the high school would save students from the hassle and potential hazards of traveling across town for games and practices.

Noting that building the fields at the high school site would first require the excavation of 436,000 cubic yards of material that could be sold for a profit, Selectman Alan Rockwood said that he would have a hard time walking away from what could be $1-$1.5 million in potential revenue for the town.

Selectman Judy Conroy pointed out that by moving the fields to a different site, the town would lose any chance of receiving 63 percent state reimbursement for the cost of building them.

The town is hoping to secure that reimbursement by rolling the fields project into the ongoing high school renovation and expansion project.

The only catch is that the fields have to be completed by the time that the final audit is done on the high school in the spring of 2004.

In the town’s original five-field plan, that deadline left only one year for excavation and one year for construction. The ZBA’s rejection of the town’s permit application came in part because it would take too many trucks per day to remove 436,000 cubic yards of material in a year.

Conroy then wondered if the town could try to complete a smaller number of fields before the 2004 deadline. That way they would at least get some money back from the state. "I don’t think we should just roll these plans up and start from scratch," she said.

Conroy suggested that the remaining fields could be completed with booster money or by some other means.

Walpole High School Wellness Coordinator and field hockey coach Terri Thornton took Conroy’s suggestion a step further.

She suggested that the town focus its efforts on building the proposed soccer and lacrosse fields at the back of the existing football field. Since those fields would basically be placed on flat land, building them would require the least amount of site preparation.

Thornton suggested that the town could fund the project by excavating the hill between the existing field hockey field and the Town Forest.

If selectmen do agree to a modified plan, they will first have to return to Town Meeting for approval, Boynton said.

Town Meeting approved the project in the fall, but with a specific set of conditions that had to be met in order for it to proceed.

The project had to receive all necessary permits from town boards, had to secure 63 percent reimbursement from the state, and had to be completed at no cost to the tax levy. (Construction costs were instead to be funded by the sale of gravel and through state reimbursement.)

Last month’s ZBA decision compromised the town’s ability to meet all three of those conditions.

There is no article on the spring Town Meeting warrant seeking to modify the fields plan, though there is an article from a group of citizens that want to see it ended. The spring warrant is closed.

Should selectmen want to bring up the project in May, a special Town Meeting would have to be called inside the existing Town Meeting.

Even if Town Meeting gives its approval at that time, the town will still have a number of obstacles left to face.

Tops on the list will be last month’s ZBA decision.

Even though many town officials believe that the fields project is a school project and thus never belonged before the ZBA in the first place, the ZBA’s decision still stands.

Boynton said that if the town went ahead with excavation plans without first resolving the issue with the ZBA, the town’s zoning enforcement officer would be all over them the moment that the first shovel hit the ground.

The town will also face continued opposition from abutting residents. Already weary from three years worth of construction at the high school, they have been present at nearly every meeting on the project to voice their comments, criticisms and in some cases their outright disapproval of the town’s plan.

Feb. 8, 2002

Selectmen halt fields plan

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

The fields project is all but finished in its current incarnation, but town officials may not be abandoning all plans to build new athletic fields behind the high school.

Selectmen voted Tuesday to take no further action on a program that would involve the removal of large amounts of gravel from behind the high school in order to facilitate the renewal of two existing fields and the construction of three new fields.

That plan was approved by Town Meeting in the fall contingent on the town getting all of the necessary permits.

The board’s decision came after the zoning board of appeals rejected the town’s application for a permit to remove 436,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel.

Although the majority of selectmen were adamant that they did not want to appeal the ZBA’s decision or try to take the project to another town board instead, several expressed optimism that a modified plan could eventually succeed.

Selectmen Chairman William Ryan said that he could support a plan that would level the existing field hockey hill and build two new fields in its place.

Selectman Susan Maguire, a vocal opponent of the fields plan because of its infringement on the Town Forest, said that she wouldn’t have a problem with Ryan’s plan.

Selectmen Alan Rockwood and John Hill both said that they still thought the original fields plan was a good idea, but acknowledged that circumstances had led them to vote for no further action.

Rockwood asked that the board also vote to ensure that no additional funds be spent on the project for the time being.

The board’s decision to take no further action on the current fields plan came after a lengthy debate on where they should leave the project.

Selectman Judy Conroy began by imploring her fellow board members to bring it before the planning board.

Conroy said she had a letter sent from building inspector Mary Jane Benker to former Town Administrator James Merriam indicating that the project belonged before the planning board.

Conroy said she had a similar letter Town Counsel Judith Cutler indicating her belief that planning board approval is the only approval the town needs to continue with the project.

For the board to stop moving on a Town Meeting article before following through on all channels would be illegal, Conroy said.

"There are still some segments of the project that have merit," Conroy said. "We need to regroup."

"I think it’s time to move on," Maguire said. "We don’t need irrigated sports complexes and tournament quality fields."

"People have told you they don’t want it," Maguire added. "Enough already. Don’t we have other things to be doing?"

The board voted 4-1-0 in favor of taking no further action. Conroy cast the one dissenting vote.

Conroy was able to secure a vote directing Boynton to convene a roundtable discussion on the future of the fields project involving members of the Finance Committee, the Capital Budget Committee and the Fields Committee.

Feb. 1, 2002

ZBA rejects WHS fields project

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

The Zoning Board of Appeals has rejected the town’s application for a permit to remove 436,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from behind the high school.

The decision, which came at the tail end of a regular ZBA meeting on Jan. 23, leaves the town’s plan to build five new athletic fields behind the high school in question.

Though ZBA members voted 3-1 in favor of the project, the town needed the affirmative votes of four board members for the special permits to proceed with excavation.

ZBA member Ted Case cast the one dissenting vote.

Board members Gregory White, Kevin Donnelly and ZBA chair Gerry Blair voted in favor of the project.

In contrast to the large crowd of abutting residents that packed a Jan. 9 ZBA hearing to express their criticisms of the project, there was only one citizen on hand to witness the decision, which came after a long night of deliberations on other zoning issues.

The written ZBA decision explains that the application was rejected because "the proposed excavation of 436,000 cubic yards of fill as proposed by the applicant would be injurious or dangerous to the public health or safety or harmful to the amenities of the town."

The decision further states that "the removal of the above stated amount of fill would require transportation of materials over particular public street[s] on which undue congestion or hazards will be created, or on which undue injury to the roadway surface will be sustained."

Explaining his position to the other members of the board, Case said "no one has shown me anywhere that this is not going to be dangerous and injurious. Being a demolition contractor, this is not something anyone has seen before."

The zoning bylaw says that special permits cannot be issued unless the ZBA is convinced proposed trucking and excavation will not be seriously injurious.

Case said that he thought the project would create undue noise and distraction for both the students at the high school and for abutting residents.

The heavy truck traffic would also cause significant damage to Common Street and create more traffic tie-ups in the center of town, he said.

In a short debate session that preceded the vote, both Donnelly and White tried to see if they could find some conditions that they could place on the permit to ameliorate Case’s concerns, but he remained unconvinced.

"The [high school] kids have had enough," he said.

The town and the ZBA had been engaged in hearing sessions on the proposed application since July 18.

Originally, there were five ZBA members hearing the case, which would have allowed the permits to be issued with one dissenting vote.
Board member Daniel Cunningham had to drop out, however, because he left town for several months and was unable to attend a continuation of the hearing on Jan. 9.

Citing a tight deadline schedule, Town Administrator Michael Boynton decided to proceed with just four members hearing the case, even though that meant he would have to secure a unanimous vote.

Boynton explained on Tuesday that waiting the several months that it would have taken for Cunningham to return to the board would have made it impossible to meet the construction deadline.

Besides, he said, "the project has to stand on its own merits."

By rolling the fields project into the ongoing high school expansion and renovation project, the town is hoping to secure 63 percent reimbursement from the State School Board Assistance Bureau.

In order to gain that reimbursement, the fields have to be completed by the time that the state does its final audit on the high school project in the spring of 2004.

Meeting that deadline means that the town has only one year for excavation and one year for construction. Excavation would have to begin this spring.

Boynton said that it is up to selectmen to decide where to take the project next. It has been tabled for discussion at the board’s next regular meeting Tuesday.

In the meantime, he will compile as much information about the project as he can, he said.

This includes what the possibilities are for continuing to push the project as it is currently configured, figuring out how much money has been spent so far on design and preparation, and determining what the ZBA’s rejection means for the conditions placed on the project by Town Meeting members.

The spring Town Meeting approved the borrowing of $1.7 million for the fields project, but that approval was contingent on the town receiving all the necessary permits and securing 63 percent reimbursement from the SBAB.

Contacted by phone on Tuesday, Selectman Judy Conroy said that despite the ZBA’s decision, she doesn’t see the fields project as a "dead issue."

Conroy has been spearheading the project on behalf of the board of selectmen since its conception.

Next week, she plans to suggest to her fellow selectmen that they still bring the project before the planning board.

Conroy said that she has a copy of a letter from Town Counsel Judith Cutler indicating her belief that planning board approval is the only approval the town needs to continue with the project.

"It’s where [the project] belongs," Conroy said.

Jan. 18, 2002

Could the fields plan be moving ahead?

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

Discussions at the latest hearing session between the town and the Zoning Board of Appeals may indicate that the high school fields plan is moving toward reality.

While still concerned about the impact that the project will have on the high school and the surrounding community, ZBA members seemed to use the Jan. 9 hearing session as a way of working towards an acceptable set of conditions that would allow the town to proceed with its plan to remove 436,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from behind the high school.

And while abutting residents spoke out almost unanimously against the project, many seemed resigned to its eventual occurrence, asking instead that the town keep a close eye on the project.

Although the ZBA’s decision was supposed to be made last week, town officials asked instead for an extension until Jan. 23 in order to present what they would like to see as the board’s decision.

The proposed decision will be prepared by Town Counsel Judith Cutler.

The excavation project represents the first step in the town’s plan to create a new athletic fields complex behind the high school.

Town officials are estimating that it would take an average of 82 truck trips into and out of the site each day in order to complete the project in a year. They are asking the ZBA to allow as many as 100 round trips each day in order to compensate for snow days and other unforeseen delays.

The town’s plan is to run the trucks into and out of the site via Common Street.

The ZBA is expected to vote on the town’s application on the night of Jan. 23. The hearing sessions between the two groups have been going on since July.

ZBA members will have three options once they receive the town’s proposed decision. They can accept it as is, add or subtract conditions as they see fit, or reject the application outright.

Town officials asked for time to submit a suggested decision when it became apparent during the Jan. 9 hearing session that their original application did not have all of the specific details the ZBA was looking for.

Appearing before the ZBA for the first time that night, new Town Administrator Michael Boynton assumed control of the project, answering questions and making assurances to both the ZBA and the gathered audience of abutting residents.

Boynton was accompanied by DPW Director Bob O’Brien, Town Engineer Margaret Walker and consultant Bruce Haskell from Camp, Dresser and McKee.

While the town’s team was able to verbally respond to most of the ZBA members’ concerns, most of their answers were not written into their original application.

For instance, the town didn’t specify which route the trucks would take once they leave the high school.

(Town officials have since prepared a list of possible streets the trucks could take if the ZBA approves their application. As of Jan. 9 that list included Main Street, Route 27, Washington Street, Elm Street, West Street, Lincoln Road, Norfolk Street and Route One. A finalized list will be included as part of the town’s proposed decision.)

ZBA members also indicated that they were looking for specific information on the measures the town would take to lessen the impact of the project on the homes surrounding the high school.

Suggestions included placing a bigger emphasis on noise and dust containment and providing the contractor with clearly defined schedule of operation to prevent work from going on after-hours.

Anxious to join in on the discussion, residents abutting the high school gave town officials their own comments and criticism to consider.

Hoping to avoid a continuation of the problems they have faced from the ongoing high school renovation and expansion project, many residents asked the town to establish a clear chain of authority and accountability prior to starting excavation.

Several residents, including Common Street resident Francis White, asked the town to hire a clerk of the works to oversee the project.

White’s house suffered more than $40,000 worth of flooding damage last summer after improperly installed drain covers in the Plimpton School parking lot failed to adequately contain water runoff at the high school, he said.

"Who’s going to watch what happens out there?" White asked.

Boynton told him that while there are no plans in place to hire a clerk of the works, the various members of the municipal staff would keep close eye on the project.

Should any problems arise, "a phone call to me would effect an immediate response," he said.

Several residents indicated that they had received similar assurances last summer that never came through.

"I wasn’t here then. I’m here now," Boynton offered.

The removal and subsequent sale of the sand and gravel from behind the high school is expected to provide the majority of funding for the $1.7 million project that will create five new athletic fields and provide enough excess material to cap the Lincoln Road landfill.

By rolling the fields project into the existing high school renovation and expansion project, the town has secured 63 percent reimbursement from the state.

But the fields project has to be completed by the time that the final audit is done on the high school, approximately two years from this spring.

Dec. 7, 2001

Neighbors question high school fields project

Concerned that they might be cut out of the discussion on the high school fields project, residents abutting the high school packed the open forum at Tuesday night’s selectmen’s meeting to voice their objections and search for some answers.

Many of the residents were the same ones who had attended the town’s meeting with the Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 28.

The fields project took a dramatic turn at that ZBA meeting when a letter authored by Selectman Judy Conroy sought to ‘withdraw without prejudice’ the town’s application for a permit to remove sand and gravel from behind the high school.

Conroy said Tuesday night that contrary to popular belief, the request to withdraw is not an attempt to stop the project. It was rather an attempt to make it go smoother by further exploring an alternative trucking route, she said.

Because the ZBA was presented with a request for withdrawal at that meeting, the merits of the case could not be discussed lest the board prejudice itself against a future submittal from the town.

Although Conroy was hoping to have the request approved that night, the ZBA postponed voting after Selectman Susan Maguire voiced her concerns that the letter did not constitute a formal vote from the Board of Selectmen. The two groups will meet again on Jan. 9.

The $1.76 million fields project would result in the creation of three brand new fields and the renovation of two existing ones. It would require the excavation of approximately 400,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from behind the high school.

When the town first appeared before the ZBA in June, it was criticized for not having a firm plan in place on how it was going to remove the material.

Under the zoning bylaw, the town must provide a plan outlining how the trucks would enter and exit the construction site, what route they would make through town and how many trips would be made each day, and what were the acceptable hours of operation.

Many expected selectmen to vote on the withdrawal issue on Tuesday, the board did not formally address the issue.

"We can’t give you an exact answer," Selectmen Chairman William Ryan told the audience. "The board’s not going to take a vote this evening."

While Ryan said that the board would not proceed with the project without receiving input from residents, he stopped short of saying that the town would return to the ZBA for approval if allowed to withdraw the existing application.

"The thought was that it if was a school project, then we don’t need ZBA approval," Ryan explained, emphasizing that nothing had formally been decided.

Prior to the school committee meeting on Monday night, Superintendent Robert Couture said that he had yet to be contacted by the board of selectmen regarding the withdrawal of the ZBA application.

Couture said as far as he was concerned, the fields are a selectmen’s project.

Given the chance to speak during open forum, Common Street resident Philip Shea wondered if the town was practicing a "process of avoidance."

Shea said that it seemed to him that the ZBA admonished the town for not having a plan in June, so the town responded by withdrawing the plan and suggesting that the ZBA doesn’t have any jurisdiction, he said.

Shea said he was worried that the town was rushing headlong into the project without considering the consequences.

Hidden Lane resident Don Weber also worried that a new submittal would try to bypass the ZBA.

Weber said that he was frustrated that the board couldn’t provide more specific information Tuesday night.

"We may need [to give] input, but we need answers, too. Truthful answers," he said.

Other abutting residents speaking on Tuesday night were critical of the newly proposed trucking plan.

While the original plan was to take the material out to Common Street by the Plimpton School, Conroy told the selectmen on Nov. 20 that it may be possible to take the material through the Town Forest and out onto Washington Street by the DPW yard.

If allowed to withdraw the application without prejudice, the town would be able to resubmit a modified proposal with little difficulty.

"I’m disappointed that I didn’t hear anything about it," Pocahontas Street resident Shirley Crown said. If selectmen chose the Washington Street route, the trucks would run in the woods behind Crown’s house.

Crown said that the road would disturb her husband, who is disabled, and make it impossible for them to sit in their back yard.

"We don’t want that road there," she said. "I’m angry that it was even proposed."

Occident Circle resident Judy Feldman called the project an "absolute rape" of the Town Forest.

She told selectmen that portions of her neighborhood had been "raped" already by the high school renovation and expansion project.

During two 100-year storms over the summer, Feldman said that problems related to construction at the high school dumped over 150,000 gallons of water into her neighborhood.

The Town Forest is already a wonderful recreation area, she said. People are coming and going all the time.

"There are other areas to build those fields," she said.

Feldman said that her street already becomes a parking lot during sporting events at the high school.

If more fields are built that situation will be even worse, she said.

Pocahontas Street resident Dot Feldman, Judy Feldman’s mother-in-law, said that the abutters of the high school have already suffered so much from the ongoing construction project that they shouldn’t even have to pay taxes.

She said that truck traffic on Common Street was already so bad that she has to walk with her hands over her ears.

"Do you live near Common Street or do you live quietly?’ she asked the board.

 Dec. 7, 2001

ZBA fields application in doubt

By Brian Burns
Staff writer

After months of aggressively pushing forward with the high school fields project, town officials took a step back during a meeting with the Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 28.

A letter authored by Selectman Judy Conroy and presented to the board asked that the town be able to ‘withdraw without prejudice’ its application for a permit to remove sand and gravel from behind the high school.

A difference in opinion between Conroy and Selectman Susan Maguire over the validity of the request convinced the ZBA to hold off on making a decision until Jan. 9.

Conroy’s letter was presented to the ZBA just a few hours before the board’s first meeting on the fields project in almost six months.

"We request that our application before your board for sand and gravel removal from the high school be removed without prejudice," it reads. "We apologize for any inconvenience or problems this may have caused your board, abutters or other interested parties."

The letter went on to explain that the application had been "misfiled with your board by previous Town Administration."

Conroy’s letter stunned the audience of 50 or so abutting residents that had come prepared for another night of heated debate over the merits of the project.

She told Blair that she had written the letter after receiving verbal authorization from her fellow selectmen over the phone and said that she planned to consult with new Town Administrator Michael Boynton about where to take the project next.

Selectman Susan Maguire, who was also in the audience, immediately asked for the floor.

"I take exception to that," Maguire said.

Maguire explained that while she had been contacted by phone, it was only to tell her what was going to happen, not to ask for her approval.

She said that she wanted to know who the "we" was in the letter presented to the ZBA. "What kind of vote makes that document valid?" she asked.

Maguire added that it was her understanding that voting could not take place over the telephone.

She then requested that the motion to withdraw be held over until the "we" on the letter became an official vote of the board of selectmen.

Hoping to be granted the withdrawal that night, Conroy pointed out that the original application, which was filed by Town Administrator James Merriam, required no formal vote.

Conroy said that she was acting not just on behalf of the board of selectmen, but as the point person for a team of town officials including acting Town Administrator Marjarita Doherty, Public Works Director Bob O’Brien, Recreation Head Bob LeBlanc and Town Engineer Maggie Walker.

"I believe that we’re here properly," she said.

ZBA chair Gerry Blair suggested that since the selectmen didn’t all seem to be of one mind, his board should hold off until they receive the official word.

He said that his views were meant to be practical, not political.

"It’s not our business to meddle in the affairs of another town board," he said.

The board voted 4-1-0 in favor of tabling the request until Jan. 9.

Contacted at home on Monday, Maguire made it clear that she objected to the request in order to ensure that the proper procedure was followed.

Maguire said that she opposes the town’s current plan because it would require that part of the Town Forest be torn down. The project would also significantly increase truck traffic around Common Street and could possibly endanger an environmentally sensitive area, she said.

Even if the specifics of the plan or the location were changed, Maguire said that she still wouldn’t support it.

"The town doesn’t need a new sports complex," she said. "In the list of priorities it doesn’t make sense."

Maguire said that the town’s time would be better spent addressing the sharp increase in property taxes.

"There’s something really wrong here," she continued. "Someone is trying to railroad this [project] through.

"Who’s got what to gain?"

Aug. 17, 2001

Town officials to decide on fields project

By Tom Glynn
Staff writer

Selectmen intend to call a meeting of representatives from several town boards and departments to determine whether and on what scale a plan for new athletic fields behind the high school can go forward.

Selectman Judith Conroy won the endorsement of her colleagues Tuesday night for a "consensus meeting" within the next 10 days, noting that "we don’t have all town boards on deck" behind the existing proposal.

The plan, estimated to cost $14 million, would create five athletic fields between the high school and the Neponset River. The state would pay 63 percent of the costs as part of the ongoing high school expansion; the town would cover its share from the sale of 400,000 yards of sand obtained from leveling two hills to clear the site.

The proposal ran into a chilly reception at a zoning board hearing last month because of a lack of specifics and the high number of truck trips required. Representatives of the sewer and water commission and the school committee expressed concerns; residents of the neighborhood opposed it.

The options, Conroy said, are to stop the project completely, continue as now planned or scale it back.

Town Administrator Marjarita Doherty told the selectmen that the fall Town Meeting will be the last opportunity to add the fields to the high school project, expected to be completed early next year. Town Engineer Margaret Walker added that staffers need direction now on how to proceed. The town already has spent $62,000 on plans, Walker said.

At Conroy’s request, selectmen agreed to put an article on the fall Town Meeting warrant, worded so that it would cover either the existing plan or a "downsized" version.

The zoning board’s hearing on a permit for excavation and trucking is scheduled to continue Sept. 19. It is unlikely a ZBA decision could be filed or sand bids sought from contractors before the October Town Meeting.

"We need to put a bid out to find if the money is there," Conroy said. "Without that information, we couldn’t go forward."

Selectmen Chairman William Ryan noted that a dollar figure must be ready in time for Town Meeting.

Selectman John Hill, who accompanied Conroy at last month’s ZBA hearing on the fields plan, said that "it was quite obvious a number of committees in this town didn’t want to do it – or to do it their way."

Doherty said that the meeting with representatives from several town boards should help "find out what happened to the consensus that appeared to be there and somehow disappeared."

The high school plan evolved last year as a welcome alternative to a controversial proposal by youth sports advocates to create ball fields on the frontland of Adams Farm.

Originally, it was thought sale of gravel from the high school site would not only pay much of the fields’ costs but also provide many or most of the dollars needed to finish capping the Lincoln Road landfill.

But this spring, town officials belatedly learned that the material on the site was not gravel but sand, worth about half the price per yard. At just about the same time, the project consultants discovered that there was twice as much material available as had been estimated.

At last month’s ZBA meeting, residents and zoning officials calculated that moving more than 400,000 yards of sand would bring heavy trucks in and out of the school grounds and Common Street every few minutes of every workday for two years.

After the zoning meeting, selectmen withdrew their request to have the state decide whether an environmental impact report would be required for the project.

Conroy said Tuesday night that the request was withdrawn because there was not enough time before a deadline a week later to make changes in the document based on suggestions from the ZBA meeting.

July 27, 2001

ZBA asks for details on high school fields proposal

By Tom Glynn
Staff writer

Members of the zoning board of appeals expressed frustration last week that selectmen are seeking a permit to excavate more than 400,000 cubic yards of sand without providing firm information.

But a dozen residents told the ZBA that there is more than enough information already available to prove the project would cause serious damage.

The excavation is intended to clear a site for new athletic fields behind the high school. Sale of the sand would fund the town’s share of the fields project.

At the request of selectmen, the ZBA opened a public hearing on the project last week, minus much of the information that the town’s zoning bylaw says should have accompanied the application.

By the time the hearing’s first session ended just before midnight Wednesday, the ZBA had heard reservations about the project from the conservation commission, the sewer and water commission and the school committee. The board also heard from neighbors who said they are appalled at the prospect of months or years of heavy trucking on top of the disruption caused by the $23 million high school renovation and expansion project.

In the information selectmen did provide the ZBA, they estimate each truck would carry 25 yards of sand. The only feasible route would be between the high school and the Plimpton building out to Common Street, the selectmen’s consultant said.

ZBA member Ted Case said that a yard of sand weighs about 1.5 tons. Add in the weight of the truck and the total is about 90,000 pounds, about 10 tons more than the state would permit on a town roadway like Common Street, Case said.

Based on legal loads, Case told consultant Bruce Haskell of CDM, the number of daily truck trips would be well above what selectmen were estimating.

If the excavation project took two years, a sand truck would be turning into or out of the high school every five minutes or so during the workday, Case said.

While the bylaw requires that the applicant list all Walpole streets to be used by trucks, ZBA members noted that they don’t even know whether loaded sand trucks would be turning left or right on Common Street.

Other sections of the bylaw were noted by neighbors. One requires that in order to issue a permit, the ZBA must find that the operation "is not injurious to the public health or safety or harmful to the amenities of the vicinity of the Town." Another obliges the ZBA to find that the operation "does not require the transportation of materials over particular public streets on which congestion or hazards will be created, or on which undue injury to the roadway surface will be sustained."

As last week’s session ended, ZBA Chairman Gerald Blair said all of the issues raised by town officials and neighbors are major. He urged selectmen to consider scaling back the project.

"I’d like you to be prepared next time," Blair told selectmen as he set the next hearing session for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19. All of that night’s ZBA hearing is to be devoted to the fields project.

As originally scheduled by then-Town Administrator James Merriam this spring, selectmen were to have selected a winning bid for the sand before going to the ZBA. That way, the identity of the contractor or contractors and their plans would be known in advance of seeking the ZBA permit.

But at the request of Selectman Judith Conroy, Merriam cancelled the auction a day or two before bids were to be opened. Conroy at the time said she was concerned that stipulations in the bid document might have discouraged contractors from seeking to buy the sand.

With the ZBA’s next session on the excavation scheduled for mid-September, it now appears unlikely that the project can be presented to the fall Town Meeting.

"Kind of a practice run, Mrs. Conroy?" ZBA member Greg White asked amid the unanswered questions in last week’s meeting. "I don’t think anybody’s ready," he added.

ZBA member Daniel Cunningham said that rather than leave it to the zoning board to do the engineering, an applicant has an obligation to present a plan detailed enough for the ZBA to support it or not. Instead, this plan is "up in the air," he said.

Zoning board members questioned whether what the selectmen have proposed is, first of all, a money-maker or a site preparation plan.

If the project is viewed as primarily a commercial mining project, it falls under a tougher section of the bylaw than does site preparation.

It will be up to the ZBA to decide whether the project is mining or site preparation, member Kevin Donnelly said. "If it is commercial mining, you may not be able to do it at all."

Haskell responded that the town’s zoning officer already has provided an opinion that the project is site preparation.

Sewer and water Chairman Steven Davis said that his commission will insist that the project adhere to all the tough requirements set forth for commercial mining even if it is approved as site preparation. Otherwise, the commission will take action to provide the protection needed for its nearby Neponset well field, he said.

Haskell indicated the project would adhere to commercial mining rules, which limits the work area at any given time, and limits excavation to no closer than 10 feet above winter groundwater levels.

The project is planned to create five fields, three of them new and two replacements. The sand is to come from the leveling of two hills, the one on which the field hockey field is located and the other between it and the Neponset River.

The intent is that the state will pay 63 percent of the project’s estimated $1.4 million cost and the sale of the sand will cover the town’s 37 percent share.

Of the estimated 436,000 yards of sand, 40,000 would go at no charge to the town to the former Lincoln Road landfill as capping material. In addition, any money from the sale not needed for the fields would be earmarked for the dump cap.

In its written comments to the ZBA, the sewer and water commission wrote the primary purpose of the sand and gravel mining phase of the ballfields project is to generate revenues for the town to defray the cost of construction of the ballfields without an override vote."

The commission went on to question the economic feasibility of a short-term excavation project with high start-up costs that could wipe out any profits.

The commissioners said that they are "concerned about the lack of details and consistency surrounding this project."

Allowing a mining project to be treated as site preparation could set a "disastrous" precedent, the commissioners said.

In their written comments, conservation commissioners warned that removing so much material would have a severe effect on the hydrology of the area. And the section of the Town Forest to be destroyed for the fields would never be replaced, the conservation commission wrote.

Representing the school committee at last week’s hearing, Mary Kent noted safety and drainage issues.

"We have the same concerns as any abutter," the school committee member said.

No town official or member of the public spoke in favor of the project.

July 13, 2001

Hearing July 18 on fields project

By Tom Glynn
Staff writer

The zoning board of appeals will hold a public hearing next week on the selectmen’s application for the removal of 400,000 cubic yards of sand from behind the high school.

The leveling of two town-owned hills between the high school and Town Forest is to clear the way for construction of athletic fields. Sale of the sand is to provide funds to cover the town’s share of the fields’ costs.

Under the town’s zoning ordinance, the ZBA may issue the required special permit provided it determines that the excavation project "is not injurious or dangerous to the public health or harmful to the amenities of the vicinity of the Town."

Another finding the ZBA is required to make before it could approve a permit is that the project "does not require the transportation of materials over particular public streets on which undue congestion or hazards will be created, or on which undue injury to the roadway surface will be sustained."

The public hearing starts at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall.

The ZBA, the bylaw states, is to make its findings after reviewing an application that includes a description of how the sand is to be removed, how it will be transported and when the work will be finished.

As of Monday, that information was not available. In May, the town cancelled the bidding for the sand two days before the deadline. So it is unknown what the approach of any eventual winning bidder or bidders might be.

The sewer and water commission is urging the ZBA to ban sand trucks from using a road through the Town Forest that passes close to the Neponset well field. In addition, the commission is asking that the winning bidder be required to post a $2 million bond to cover any damage to the water resources.

In preliminary discussions, officials discussed bringing empty trucks to the site via White Bridge and the Town Forest and routing the loaded vehicles onto Common Street. If the ZBA were to prohibit use of the Town Forest route, Common Street would have to handle all in and out trucking.

In its letter, the water commission estimates that the project would require "tens of thousands" of truck trips. Without knowledge of what the winning bidder or bidders might propose, the selectmen in their application do not estimate the size of the trucks and what schedule they would run on.

The zoning bylaw calls for an excavation project to last no more than a year, although it does appear to leave the door open for year-by- year extensions. The selectmen’s application states the project will take one year; the second of the two requests in the application asks the ZBA to grant a variance from the one-year requirement.

After he cancelled the bidding in May at the request of Selectman Judith Conroy, then-Town Administrator James Merriam said he hoped for a ZBA decision in time to get a request for the fields project on the fall Town Meeting warrant. (Conroy maintained that the request for bids fell short of what’s needed to get the most favorable response from contractors.)

As outlined at the May Town Meeting, the plan is to add the fields to the ongoing high school expansion project, thus winning 63 percent state funding for them. The total cost was estimated at $1.8 million, including work to meet handicapped access requirements at the athletic fields and safety improvements to the Turco Field bleachers.

The project is to provide enough sand to provide a capping layer at the former landfill. And if the bids are high enough, sale of the sand is to bring in enough money to not only cover the town’s share of the fields cost, but to have some cash left over to partially offset the nearly $1 million price for the Lincoln Road cap.

An article to accomplish all that was withdrawn in May because dollar figures and other information remained to be gathered. In the days before Town Meeting, a consultant reported that the material to be excavated was less valuable than had been anticipated, but that there was a lot more of it.

Feb. 9, 2001

Town Meeting advances fields plan

By Tom Glynn
Staff writer

After receiving assurances that the state will reimburse most of the costs of proposed athletic fields behind the high school, Town Meeting last week voted $120,000 to design the complex.

Town Meeting also supported the transfer of 13 or so acres of the Town Forest to the school department for the new fields.

As outlined to Town Meeting representatives last Wednesday night, the $1.3 million complex will be funded through 63 percent reimbursement from the state and the sale of gravel from the site. Any surplus gravel money would go toward capping the former Lincoln Road landfill.

That funding mechanism is in line with what selectmen discussed last fall and into the winter. But it differs from what the town administration discussed more recently with the finance committee.

The presentation to the FinCom called for the gravel proceeds to be earmarked entirely for capping the landfill. The funding for the athletic fields was to come through a specific Proposition 2½ override on the June town election ballot.

But just before Town Meeting began last Wednesday, selectmen decided against seeking an override for the fields.

Selectman Ron Mariani told Town Meeting that voters would shoot down a $1.3 million override for fields. "All our work would be down the drain" if officials stuck with the override alternative, he said.

With defeat of the override certain, there would be no money for the landfill or the fields, Mariani said. And the search for athletic fields would refocus on Adams Farm, he added.

Several FinCom members expressed dissatisfaction that what was presented to Town Meeting was different from what their board voted to support. At least one FinCom member, John Hill, said he would have voted not to support what was finally presented.

FinCom members noted that townspeople have twice rejected $1 million overrides to cap the landfill. Last year, the FinCom asked the administration to come up with an alternative, and the sale of the gravel to finance the capping looked liked the solution.

But now, earmarking the gravel money for the fields rather than the landfill "is a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul," FinCom member Judi Donnelly told Town Meeting. The change makes the fields look more attractive and puts capping the landfill in a different position, she said.

The capping project has been a main concern of the FinCom, Chairman Al DeNapoli said. "I am very concerned about this project standing alone and not being linked."

The sewer and water commission also had signed on to using the gravel money first of all for the landfill. Runoff from the dump is a threat to town water supplies.

Noting that the playing fields would be close to town wells, Commissioner Pat Fasanello said that earmarking the gravel money for Lincoln Road was what sold him on the project.

"But that’s off the docket now," Fasanello said. "I really have reservations."

Selectman Alan Rockwood agreed that the Lincoln Road landfill is "an embarrassment." But a fields override that went down in flames would do nothing for the landfill, he stressed.

Town Administrator James Merriam and school Superintendent Paul Livingston told Town Meeting that they have been told by the state that the fields could be added to the ongoing high school renovation and expansion project for 63 percent reimbursement.

Merriam noted that the state has funded athletic facilities routinely as part of school projects. Livingston said physical education is part of the curriculum and that the state also considers extra-curricular activities, including sports, as an integral part of education.

The project would provide five new fields, one each for softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and varsity baseball.

The $1.3 million budget includes $235,000 for on-site wells and an irrigation system.

Bruce Haskell of CDM, the town’s engineering consultant, said contractors would be willing to pay between $2 and $3 a cubic yard to remove an estimated 240,000 yards of high-quality gravel from two hills to be leveled to create the fields site.

The sale would bring in between $480,000 and $720,000, Haskell said. The lower figure would be enough to cover the town’s 37 percent share of the fields project; the higher number would yield $240,000 or so that would be available to offset capping costs at Lincoln Road.

In addition to the prospect of dollars, the gravel operation would provide 40,000 yards for the dump cap, cutting $200,000 from its cost, Haskell said.

The original idea was to take 370,000 yards of gravel from the site, but that was cut to 280,000 to stay off conservation land.

Another result of that change, Town Administrator James Merriam said, is that there will not be quite enough room for five separate fields. So the new soccer field will be overlaid on the outfield of the softball field, Merriam said.

The gravel removal operation is expected to take about 18 months and readying the site for sports at least that long.

Joe LaVita, chairman of the recreation committee, said the town has been searching for additional fields for 16 years. "This project is immediately needed," he said. "We’ve tried for years, this is the best alternative."

Town Meeting members raised questions about the effect of the fields on water quality and about gravel truck routes. But the transfer of Town Forest land, which still needs a vote by the state Legislature, won the necessary two-thirds vote easier than did the design money.

"Four percent of the Town Forest is a fair tradeoff to keep Adams Farm as it is," Town Meeting Rep. Ed Fosberg said.

Copyright 2007 The Walpole Times