Middle School field eyed as fire station home

After years of study, the Fire Station Working Group is eyeing Field 13 – the Middle School baseball field – as its preferred location for a new fire station.

The tract of land off Wellesley Street, separated from the rest of the Middle and High school campus by trees, could support an approximately 22,000 square-foot Fire Department headquarters for an estimated cost of $35 million. Initial 2023 estimates for renovating the existing headquarters on Boston Post Road and the South Avenue station were approximately $58 million.

Select Board member and Fire Station Working Group co-Chair Thomas Palmer shared the group’s preferred location with the School Committee Monday evening. Several other locations have been considered over the last several years, but Palmer and Fire Chief Justin Woodside said the school location could provide the best fire services for the town, while having limited impacts on education. They noted a new entrance to the site would be created on Wellesley Street, while the current driveway for the school would only be used as a secondary exit.

“It’s surrounded by wetlands, which isolates it from the rest of the school property,” Palmer said. “It makes it a little more challenging for the schools to do anything with it.”

The School Committee and district are exploring the possibility of reconstructing or renovating the existing school buildings in their ongoing feasibility study, but Field 13 is not included in those plans.

While Monday’s presentation to the School Committee served as an update, Palmer requested the board take a position on the matter in the near future. The Fire Station Working Group’s report is expected to come to the Select Board’s desk by the end of the year (all three Select Board members serve on the group), and, if the board accepts the recommendations, residents could be asked to appropriate up to $5 million at the May Town Meeting to fund further traffic, wetlands, septic design and construction studies.

“I think a question that [residents are] going to ask is, how do the schools feel about this,” Palmer said.

If the town opts to pursue the school parcel, Woodside and Palmer said the South Avenue station would be “decommissioned and demolished,” while the current headquarters will be renovated. Renovation costs are estimated between $5 million and $10 million.

“By creating a new primary station, we don’t have to create temporary facilities,” Palmer said, noting that turning the Boston Post Road station into the department’s secondary home would get “more life out of that building.”

“The town center station would be renovated to have its mechanical and safety infrastructure upgraded,” he said.

The prospect of placing a fire station at the corner of Wellesley Street and the Middle School’s driveway is a product of proactive planning from previous generations. The school’s 1959 property deed states that the parcel can only be used for public school purposes, but it contained a provision allowing for the construction of a fire station on two acres in the southwest corner of the campus after 50 years.

“We weren’t the only ones with this idea,” Palmer said. “Someone had some foresight going way back.”

School Committee Chair Adam Newman said he expects the committee to vote on a recommendation at its Dec. 1 meeting. The committee’s initial feedback on Monday night was positive, although members said they would like to see potential impacts, such as noise, studied further. Palmer and Woodside said ambient noise from the station would be minimal, and noise from fire engines heading to a call would vary depending on traffic conditions.

“I’m guessing it won’t be an issue,” School Committee member Kenneth Newberg said, “but it would be nice to have confirmation of that.”

Member Tiao Xie said he likes “having a safety facility on campus,” although he noted the school would be losing a portion of its property, and he is hopeful the school and town could find another area in town – such as near the Case House campus – that the district could use.

More information about the Fire Station Working Group’s work is on the town’s website.

Competency Determination approved

In other business, the School Committee approved the district’s proposed competency determination policy with minor changes to language. The committee conducted a first read of the policy at its Nov. 3 meeting.

The policy requires students to complete ninth and 10th grade English, algebra, a lab science or engineering course, and beginning with the class of 2027, a U.S. history course. It also requires students to prove their mastery of course content by passing a final exam or equivalent summative assessment.

If students don’t pass the final exam, they may take a district competency determination exam, which will be similar to the MCAS. If students do not pass that exam, they may either retake it or submit a portfolio of evidence determined by the district’s new competency determination panel.