There were five proposed designs shown at the meeting on June 6. One thing the plans have in common is a significant negative impact on all the Lexington field sports programs – both organized and drop-in, including outdoor sports activities during school hours. While the topic of the impact on the playing fields was not officially part of the meeting agenda, I believe that it is an important aspect of the public’s evaluation of the total consequences of the proposed high school project.
Regardless of the design selected, every grass playing field in the Worthen Road complex will likely be offline for about six years. This will impact residents of all ages and abilities, and drastically reduce Lexington field recreational programs. The eight grassy fields on Worthen Road used for Varsity, Junior Varsity and Little League baseball and softball, football, plus soccer and cricket will be unavailable. The lack of playing fields will also cause the cancellation of the traditional spring, summer, and fall camps and clinics. All playing fields will either be used as building sites, or construction material and equipment sites. Construction is estimated to take four years. However, then, it will take two years to demolish the existing high school (which must remain open until the new building is in use) reconstruct the playing fields, and regrow the grass to a playable level.
Arlington, Watertown, and Waltham have just completed, or are in the process of building, their new high schools. They have managed to avoid the destruction of their playing fields during the construction process. Belmont High School built the new school on their playing fields. The new high school has been open since September 2021; however, their fields have yet to be replaced.
Access to playing fields will be very limited, and this will have a major impact on all sports that use turf (football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, etc.). Some years ago, Town Meeting failed to follow the recommendations of the Recreation Committee to partner with Minuteman Tech to invest in (and thereby gain access to) their new playing fields. When Lexington declined to invest, another partner made the capital investment and secured a long-term lease to gain playing field access. Thus, the availability of the Minuteman Tech fields for rental by Lexington has been vastly reduced.
The Farmers Market will be affected. When Fletcher Park was serving as the material and equipment area for the police station construction, the Farmer’s Market had moved to the Worthen Road practice field. Since the Worthen Road space was larger, and parking was easier, they want to stay there.
At previous School Department info sessions, I learned that many towns have avoided demolishing auditoriums, gyms, and cafeterias because there is no state reimbursement for these items. All the plans shown on June 6th called for the demolition of all three of these non-reimbursable facilities.
Finally, the estimated costs of the high school do not include the fieldhouse or the indoor swimming pool. Hopefully the estimates include the restoration of the playing fields.
We do need to upgrade and expand our high school facilities, but I think we have better plans than this.
The farmers market may have to take one for the team and move back to their original space.
There’s no need to be impacting our wonderful recreation complex to renew our High School. There just needs to be the willingness to meet the challenges. The School can be renewed on it’s present campus. Unfortunately the School Department, from the beginning, only wanted a brand new “turn key” building and has structured the process to achieve that goal. The 5 plans being considered do not maintain the usable parts of the school or the key connection of the School to the Town Center. They want the greater community to sacrifice what’s good and spend millions more than necessary. We can do so much better. I know we will.
Thank you, Peter. I understand you’ve put forth a plan to rebuild LHS on its present site and look forward to learning more about it.
Peter, thank you for your insights. I agree.
The impact of building a new LHS on Town fields will be immense, and in the end, we will have a bifurcated sports complex with a high school smack in the middle of it. It’s an ill-conceived approach that will hurt the Town both while it’s happening, and then forever after. There has to be a better way.
While affecting the playing fields is inevitable, the location of the new HS should be shifted so that there is no need to affect the varsity baseball field or beyond. The practice field (farmers market) and the knoll behind the field house should have parts of the new HS on them. This shifts the building away from a baseball field that has lights and it also shifts the HS away from the small residential streets that are already overwhelmed with school traffic.
Last, under no circumstances should the administration offices be built at the HS. This not only increases the non-reimbursable costs, but will also require additional parking, possibly a ramp that can’t receive reimbursement, and will reduce the usable green space around the HS.
Given Lexington’s correct environmental concerns it is beyond my comprehension that the building committee (SBC) is proposing designs which generate a HUGE amount of trash (lot of it toxic waste). Let’s preserve and renovate at least the main building and possibly the science building. We also need to reexamine how much of the new building should have HVAC system using geothermal energy. With geo-systems we need to run A/C in the summer in addition to heating in the winter. Should the entire campus run HVAC year around or can we be more targeted and reduce the number of geo-wells from 500+? How will new HVAC system affect operating expenses (electricity use PLUS maintenance of complex mechanical and electronic systems)? Finally, renovations of the field house should not be considered in the new LHS funding. Let’s look for grants and corporate sponsorships that can fund a new indoor sports complex that has the desired track and a pool which can serve the entire community. It is time to slow down the submission of plans to MSBA and redesign the project to greatly reduce the price and build on the existing site. If you agree please let the School Committee and Select Board know. Thank you for staying informed.
To clarify, the Lexington Farmers Market is not in a decision-making position when it comes to the use of playing fields in town. We are grateful to work collaboratively with the town on our location, and moved to the Worthen Road Practice Field while Fletcher Park was in use for the Centre Streetscape project and police station rebuild. While we love the open space and easier parking, it has always been the town’s intention that we would move back to Fletcher Park when the High School construction begins and the field is used as part of that project.