Dear Editor,
I will enthusiastically support the Lexington High School project with my YES vote on December 8. Years of painstaking planning and community engagement have resulted in a smart, high-value design that will serve our community well for generations.
When Town Meeting Members toured the new Waltham High School, we had the opportunity to see many of the features planned for the new LHS and to hear from the architects the reasoning behind their design choices. I was impressed by the thoughtfulness and flexibility of the design and the healthy, invigorating feel of the building. Every aspect – the layout, materials, window placement, stairway width, ceiling heights, acoustical features, and furnishings – has been carefully selected for functionality and adaptability. Different social and learning styles have been factored into common spaces that are inclusive and comfortable for all students. Many of the school’s bright, energizing rooms are multipurpose and can change over time, or even within the school day, to meet a range of educational and capacity needs without added cost. Also, options for future expansion are already determined, so that the town can accommodate enrollment waves with minimal disruption.
The school will be beautiful, but not extravagant. In fact, it is the lowest-cost option that meets the space needs of our educational program for the long term. This is a well thought-out, responsible plan that I am proud to support. Please join me in voting YES on December 8.
Bloom is indeed very “beautiful” — so beautiful that if built, it will be a great addition to the architects’ portfolio, and a nice fee generator for those same architects since per the SBC’s own calculations, Bloom is 25% more expensive per square foot than the new Belmont High School and 14% more expensive than Arlington’s.
Besides its higher than necessary cost, Bloom’s main problem is that it will be too small the day it opens, should it ever be built. That’s because at 2,395 students capacity, today’s LHS enrollment, and with only 1,100 students expansion capacity at a cost of perhaps $100 million above and beyond Bloom’s $660 million cost, Bloom-expanded will still be too small given the 5,750 new MBTA dwellings, increasing Lexington’s population by 48%, that we can expect in the next 10 years because building those dwellings is so hugely profitable for developers — 89 Bedford St, previously zoned for 1 single-family house, was purchased, now that it is zoned for MBTA developments, by a developer at $6 million above its assessed value; if that developer can “give” a $6 million profit to the (lucky) landowner, just imagine how much more profit there is for that developer in selling the 30 condos now being built there. Ditto of every square inch now zoned for MBTA developments, whether condos or rental apartments will be built on those MBTA-zoned lots.
THAT is Bloom’s single biggest problem by far, and a sufficient one to vote NO on December 8, so that the SBC will be finally forced on December 9 to start designing and cost-estimating a more flexible, on-campus, phased, box-based new High School able to accommodate far more students than 2,395 + 1,100 students, if necessary in a separate Freshman House from a 10 to 12 grade High School if enrollments grow beyond 3,200 or so, the maximum size we hear is desirable for a single High School.
Concerns about LHS enrollment and capacity at the new LHS have been addressed by the SBC, in partnership with the design team and the school district. Please see this analysis, based on publicly available data, which shows that the proposed new LHS is right-sized for our community, even with the expected additional students from the new multi-unit housing coming online: https://www.yes4lex.org/info/mbta