By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD — Local and regional environmental activists are expressing concern over the number of trees that will be destroyed in order to build a new Northeast Metro Tech Regional Vocational High School.
“Trees are important for a number of reasons,” Wakefield resident and environmental scientist Christine Rioux feels. “If they have a plan to minimize that, that takes effort to make that a priority, which I hope they’ll do.”
“There are solutions other than taking trees,” Arlington resident and member of the Friends of the Wakefield Northeast Metro Tech Forest Lee Farrington feels. “We don’t want to take down trees in this day and age.”
At the Wakefield Conservation Commission meeting Tuesday, October 4, Rioux asked if there was an estimate on how many trees would be removed.
“I’m sure we can work that out,” Kevin Nigro of owners’ project manager PMA Consultants answered.
“It’s a question we typically ask,” Conservation Commission vice-chair Robert Romano added.
The area planned for the school will have a profound effect on the number of trees. It will not be on the existing sports fields adjacent to the school, as is the case with the planned new Wakefield High School, but on wooded land across Hemlock Road and the entry to Breakheart Reservation. The land was once part of Breakheart but was transferred to the school in 1965 before its construction in 1968. Neighborhood resident Bob Brooks wonders why “they’re going through wetlands tearing up trees when they have alternative areas to use.”
He’s also worried about blasting to prepare the site.
“The vocational school can and should be built on the adjacent playing fields, not on the environmentally sensitive hilltop forest and wetlands known for Native American ancient-heritage sites,” reads a statement from activist group Trees As a Public Good. “We are asking for the new school to be built on the existing playing fields as detailed and recommended in the pre-feasibility study in 2016.
“Home to two endangered species, this over 13-acre hilltop forest cleans the air, reduces heat, absorbs storm runoff, sustains biodiversity, and mitigates global warming in addition to providing a unique window on Indigenous culture and history.
“Placing the school here is financially as well as environmentally and culturally disastrous. The planned budget of $317.4 million includes over $40 million for months of blasting and site preparation but will still leave the new school difficult to access for people with disabilities. Geotechnical reports warn of water-filled extremely hard volcanic bedrock and the need to manage considerable volumes of water during and after construction: multiple sump pumps will be needed to keep the site dry. In 2016, the project architects rejected this site as financially and logistically infeasible.
“Now, with rapidly increasing costs to pursue this ill-advised hilltop site, the current project managers and architects propose $33 million cuts to everything from ventilation and stormwater management for the new site to lockers and welding booths. How much more will have to be cut before the school opens in 2026 to cover the huge costs of siting the school on a hilltop six stories above the student parking lot and playing fields with a planned access road too steep for sidewalks?”
“Does it make sense to build an access road without sidewalks,” Wakefield resident Paul Rybiki asked rhetorically in the Conservation Commission meeting. He also objects to calling it a driveway because it will be half a mile long.
June Circle resident Bob Brooks wonders if widening the access road to include sidewalks will take up enough wetlands to trigger an EPA review. “If we try to slide it over, we bump into other wetlands,” David Conway of Nitsch Engineering admitted.
Linda Ireland of Melrose and a “conservation birder” affiliated with Trees As a Pubic Good and Keep Our Oaks, called the plans “to build on the western edge of a 600 acre forest massively destructive. It’s a technically difficult site to build on. “Rioux called the area “more preserved than Breakheart” because it’s not used as a recreation area.
The siting of the school will also require a new access road off Farm Street closer to the where it turns into Main Street on the way to Saugus. In the Conservation Commission meeting October 4, Ireland asked why an access road couldn’t be built off Water Street near Mill River on the other side of the site, which she feels will have less impact on wetlands.
“The NEMT District does not own land that connects through to Water Street,” reads part of the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Northeast Metro Tech Building Committee website for the project, northeastbuildingproject.com. “The land is privately owned and would also require connection to a small residential road that could not accommodate increased traffic.”
Other responses to FAQs indicate, “The project is preserving all buffers, driveways, and emergency access to/from Breakheart. The new school site is also bound on its northern edge (June Circle) by a large, forested area owned by Wakefield. Trees and ledge will be selectively removed to only accommodate what is needed for the new school and associated programs.
“The project only intends to remove rock and trees necessary to accommodate the new school and associated fields and parking. The property for the new school is being built on private (School District owned) land. The local and Massachusetts School Building Authority funding has been secured, so with proper local approvals the project can move forward.
“Project opponents have been aware of each and every step undertaken for local and state approval processes. They have contacted both the MSBA and state officials directly at each step of the way. They have also taken the unusual step of being on the school property while engineering investigations, such as test pits, have taken place. The project also submitted and received a wetlands delineation from the Wakefield Conservation Commission over a year ago. The process took several months and was conducted in public over six meetings. The project will continue to work collaboratively and cooperatively with the Wakefield Conservation Commission and Engineering Departments as project planning continues. An environmental Notice of Intent was filed with the Wakefield Conservation Commission the week of September 19, 2022. This will trigger several public meetings and site visits in the upcoming months.
“The project team includes registered professional engineers disciplined in site, civil, geotechnical, and environmental engineering as well as a Protected Species Specialist, Wetlands Specialist and Vernal Pond experts. During the initial MSBA phases, the project team was required to affirm that no MEPA environmental triggers were met. After two years of planning and a vote of all twelve 12 member communities to approve and support the project, a group formed to oppose the project and asked MEPA to issue an advisory opinion as to whether the project meets the criteria for a MEPA review to be required. MEPA conducted a review period in which they solicited comments from public and the project team, and ultimately concluded that no additional environmental reviews were required.”
Trees As a Public Good has its own answers to FAQs reading, “Building the new school on the football/baseballs field has the lowest new construction cost and shortest building construction schedule.
“The cost of the 6 months of blasting and rock crushing to reduce the height of the hilltop by up to 34 feet exceeds $40 million.
“Due to rising costs the project managers are currently proposing over 33 million in cuts to date that include ventilation, stormwater management, welding booths, lockers, toilets and more. After the massive blasting operation, the lowest elevation entrance of the new building will be six stories above the student parking lot and new athletic fields.
“Accessing athletic fields from the school will require driving down from the hilltop or descending 10 sets of concrete stairs and crossing traffic on two crosswalks.
“Anyone with mobility issues must navigate two crosswalks and over 700 feet of elevated ramps in all seasons and weather to reach an elevator that bypasses the last two (out of 10) sets of stairs.“The half-mile narrow winding access road from Hemlock Road to Farm is “too steep” for sidewalks.”
Despite all activist efforts, only about 15 people attended a “stand out” protest at the corner of Hemlock and Farm Wednesday, Oct. 28, admittedly a work day for most people.
Brooks knows, “They still have a long way to go to get their permits.”
The next step in the process is a Conservation Commission site walk for Sunday, October 16 at 9 a.m., with tentative plans to meet at the entrance to Breakheart by the school.