Residents outline concerns about new elementary school

Date: 9/28/2011

Sept. 28, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

WESTFIELD — Neighbors of the proposed new Abner Gibbs School continue to raise questions about the project. Questions which the group’s spokesperson Thomas Smith told Reminder Publications seem to fall on deaf ears.

“The city is so intent on jamming this in, they do not want to hear any opposition,” Smith said. “We knew a new school was going in, we just didn’t know it was that monstrosity with 600 students.”

Smith said neighbors’ concerns about the size and location of the school, storm water runoff from such a large building, shared parking with St. Peter & St. Casimir Catholic Church in lieu of building a school parking lot, bus and parent drop off traffic and the safety of students walking to the new school have all been brushed aside by city officials.

Mayor Daniel Knapik, however, said the neighbors concerns have all been noted, researched and addressed.

“We can’t explain it to [Mr. Smith] any more,” Knapik said. “It’s very disturbing that, in everything, we have responded very openly to him.”

At Large City Councilor David Flaherty, who also attended the public hearings on the project, noted that “there were dozens of people who went to the meeting at South Middle School [this summer]” to express concerns about the proposed new school. He said it seemed the neighbor’s concerns were not addressed.

“I’ve seen the mayor at the meetings ... he has a very sympathetic ear, [but] the answers he gives are not what people want to hear, ” Flaherty said.

Flaherty added that he felt Knapik’s hands are somewhat tied on the project, as the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has set a timeline that the city must adhere to if it wants to receive the promised $20 million in state reimbursement for the project.

“I think it’s important that people know that the state is in control of this,” Flaherty said. “If we want their $20 million, we have to do what they want.”

Flaherty noted that he, and many other people agree with Smith that the project is not right for the neighborhood.

“He feels that the new school is too big for the lot, and I tend to agree with him,” Flaherty said. “However, from what the city has told me, this is the only city-owned lot available; it is the only property we could put a school on and satisfy the time constraints of the state.”

Flaherty said he agreed with Smith that land near the middle school might have been a better choice, if there had been time to develop a plan for that area.

Knapik said Smith’s concern about the shared parking agreement with St. Peter & St. Casimir church was addressed by a recent ordinance approved by the City Council.

“It was identified as a problem in the city,” Knapik said of the shared parking situation. “The Boys & Girls Club and middle school have a joint agreement to have shared parking.”

Bishop Timothy MacDonald of the diocese of Springfield also agreed to the arrangement, as long as the city and the priest of the parish could come to a mutual arrangement, which Knapik said the two parties achieved.

“It’s a good thing, we get green credit for it,” Knapik said.

Smith said the neighbors see the arrangement as “the city’s plan to shove the church out and take over the property.”

Knapik noted that the City Council and Park Commission both agreed to turn all of the land adjacent to the Ashley Street School site, which now houses a park and Little League ball fields, over to the School Department.

“If we wanted to put parking there, we could,” Knapik said.

Smith said the city has also not adequately addressed his concerns about bus traffic and parent drop-off around the school. He said the turn radius between the bus drop-off exit and the corner of Cross Street was too short to allow a bus to make the corner without crossing lanes.

Knapik said, “All the turn radiuses that a bus would have to make have been done,” adding that the proposed corner radiuses have been widened as a part of ongoing planning for the school.

“We do this for every single project that comes in,” Knapik said. “We do a traffic plan and make adjustments as necessary to accommodate traffic.”

Smith said he and other neighbors also had concerns about the small number of spots allotted for parent drop-off and pick up, and asked if parents were going to be allowed to park along Cross Street while they waited.

Knapik said that school administrators and staff would handle traffic flow and adjust drop-off plans once the school was in operation.

“As with any school that has parent drop-off, we will manage it at the site with the parents and the school staff to insure kids are dropped off in a orderly fashion,” Knapik said.

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com