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Date: 11/3/2022
LUDLOW – During their Oct. 27 meeting, the Planning Board met with the Longmeadow Public Schools District Coordinator Michael Bertini to discuss installing basketball hoops at Jabish Brook Middle School.
Bertini said the goal is to add three, 8-foot hoops outside for the students to have something to use during recess.
The Building Department sent in a letter to the Planning Board expressing their concern for the safety of the students as the original sketch plan for the basketball hoops is to place them in a public safety traffic lane. Planning Board Chair Joe Queiroga read the letter from the Building Department aloud. It read,
“The traffic flow cannot be restricted, and children cannot play in a traffic lane. Public safety vehicles must be able to drive freely around the building. I propose an alternative plan within a fenced area separated from the roadway with a crosswalk.”
Bertini explained to the board that the students currently play on that traffic lane during recess and there are two chain link ropes that block off the road on each side.
He added, “At that point, whether the hoops are there it is still the same situation as traffic is not able to flow though it during those recess times.”
Planning Board Vice Chair Ray Phoenix voiced similar concerns after hearing from the building inspector and Building Department.
He said, “I think the building inspector gave a great idea on how to possible to that. I do not think the current proposal for the basketball hoops strikes me as a great one. I don’t think the school department should have kids play in the street whether it is blocked or not.”
Town Planner Doug Stefancik said there was another idea to put the hoops on the other side of Jabish Brook and pave a basketball court, but the Conservation Committee said that could not happen because it would be placed to close to the riverside and encroach the wetlands.
The Planning Board recommended Bertini to go to the next Safety Committee meeting in November to discuss the current sketch for the basketball hoops and then come back to the board to explain what they said about the plan.