The old Pickering Middle School. Item File Photo
By Leah Dearborn
LYNN — Lynn residents are not happy with the proposed sites for potential new middle schools.
The second public forum on a replacement for Pickering Middle School took place before a packed room Wednesday night in the newly-opened Marshall Middle School’s cafeteria.
Project architect Gene Raymond of Raymond Design Associates, Inc. said school overcrowding is a major reason for the need to build one, or possibly two, new schools. He said the district is projected to grow by 757 students by the year 2020.
Potential sites at Magnolia Park, Parkland Avenue, McManus Field and Gallagher Park were discussed before a sizeable crowd that nearly filled the cafeteria.
The proposed choices drew almost unanimously negative responses from meeting attendees, especially the Parkland Avenue and Gallagher Park sites.
Residents lined up to list concerns that ranged from environmental destruction to lack of transparency in the development process to issues with traffic.
“Our area’s beautiful,” said Basse Road resident, Marie V. Muise about the Parkland Avenue site, which is near wetlands at the back of Barkland dog park. “I don’t know why they’re going to spoil the woods.”
It was a sentiment that was echoed over the course of the night, with City Councilor-at-Large Brian LaPierre speaking against Parkland and Gallagher to loud cheers from the crowd.
Instead, LaPierre supported the development of Magnolia Park.
Funeral director Brian Field of Solimine Funeral Homes said he attended the meeting to watch over concerns about Pine Grove Cemetery.
Field, who has been a funeral director for over two decades, said the cemetery will run out of space in only 10 years.
“I can’t think of anything more disrespectful than to put a big school next to a cemetery,” said meeting attendee Gail Lowe Giannetto of the Parkland Avenue site.
Superintendent Catherine Latham said the next step in the process is to present a list of pros and cons to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) with cost estimates. The city will then wait for feedback on the suggested site choices.
Latham emphasized that site choices can also be changed in response to strong community opposition. She said the date of the next public forum for the project has yet to be set, but there will be other opportunities for residents to speak and all comments at the forum will be submitted to the MSBA.
The original version of this article incorrectly identified Susan LaMonica instead of Gail Lowe Giannetto for a quote. We apologize for the error.
