Pollard renovations approved by Town Meeting

Published by The Boston Globe

Town Meeting members last night approved spending $325,000 for repairs to modular classrooms at the Pollard Middle School which would house Kindergarten students and pre-schoolers from the Newman Elementary school while the Newman undergoes renovations.

But members rejected $875,000 for a new parking lot and access road at the Pollard.

Town meeting members also approved a measure to swap the town-owned Hersey parking lot on the corner of Great Plain Avenue and Broad Meadow Road for the MBTA-owned Needham Heights lot on West. St. The Needham Heights lot is the location selectmen have endorsed for a new senior center.

A vote to provide funds for the design of a senior center on the Needham Heights lot is expected when Town Meeting resumes tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Newman School.

Town Meeting last night also approved a measure revising dog regulation bylaws, allowing for better enforcement of a law that bans dogs on Memorial Field on Rosemary Street and DeFazio Field on Dedham Avenue.

The debate over the Pollard School renovations was the longest last night.

Marianne Cooley, vice-chair of the Needham School Committee, said the proposed parking lot and access road off Dedham Avenue would provide spaces for parents to safely drop off their children. Some staff at Pollard and those staff members coming from the Newman will park on the street, she said.

But Town meeting members expressed doubt that the boards involved with planning the Pollard project were thorough enough in examining all possible options for additional parking spaces.

“We’ve heard a good case for why the modulers should be fixed for the kids coming in September,” said Ron Ruth, from precinct E. “I don’t think we’ve heard a case for why 60 additional parking spaces are necessary for 170 Kindergarten kids.”

Several Town Meeting members asked how many site options were considered for the parking lot and why details on the plan were not documented along with the Newman School renovations.

George Kent, chairman of the Permanent Public Building Committee, said the town hired an architect to choose a site for the new parking. He said a lot could not go behind the school because of the athletic fields, and the lot could not go on the east side of the school because the road would not be easily accessible.

“In my opinion, Town Meeting is not the place to do design,” said Kent. “It restricts the process.”

But Ruth submitted a motion to separate the funds for modulars from the funds for parking and the motion passed.

Then, at the urging of selectmen, Town Meeting voted to expedite the appropriation of the money for renovating the modulars so that the Newman School project would not be delayed.