Wellesley goes to the polls Tuesday on school construction project
On the eve of a townwide vote on an $86.6 million property-tax increase to fund a new high school in Wellesley, the issue of whether the new structure would be safe in an earthquake has taken center stage.
Opponents of the project recently sent out a flier to Wellesley residents saying that "a significant earthquake could cause the collapse of the proposed building as designed by project architects," echoing concerns raised this fall by a local geologist, and urging them to vote against the tax increase on Tuesday.
In response to the concerns, the project manager monitoring the design has said that it meets the state's building code, which requires high-occupancy buildings like schools to be "earthquake resistant," and that using a standard foundation, as planned, would be sufficient.
Questions about the proposed building's earthquake resistance were first raised in October, just before Special Town Meeting voted to approve the project and put the tax increase required to pay for it on the ballot as an override of the state's Proposition 2 1/2 law. Their decision set up Tuesday's special election, when the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wellesley resident and geologist Jerome Carr had told Town Meeting members that a geotechnical report on the project found "a lot of peat underneath" the building's proposed site.
"You don't build a building on peat, period," said Carr, who has a doctorate in geology and a master's in geophysics, and is president of Carr Research Laboratories.
The firm provides analyses for permits, environmental impact studies, and land-use suitability reports.
The geotechnical report cited by Carr was released by the project's developers in September, and studied the site of the proposed structure, adjacent to the current high school.
He noted that the design for the new building - unlike the existing building - does not incorporate the use of structural pilings to secure it against an earthquake. That, he said, means the new building was "going to be a very dangerous building for students."
The flier detailing Carr's concerns was mailed out by the Wellesley for Wellesley High School Committee, a group formed to campaign against a new building.
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this will pass.wellesley like every town voted to keep the state income tax.since the proponents are advocating a override for the new high school how about building a new town hall,i am sure there will be no objections to an override for such a worth while cause.