Wellesley High building project threatens student parking lot

There will be no student parking at Wellesley High during the construction of the new school building - at least, that's the recommendation a panel is expected to present to the School Committee at its meeting Tuesday night.

The parking lot and surrounding area accommodates 299 cars - 150 for students and 149 for faculty and staff, said Marlene Allen, chairwoman of the Parking Working Group. In addition, she said, about 45 students park on the street.

The site for the new building is on the high school property, and the work will take over the current parking lot. Under the plan to be unveiled Tuesday, said Allen, there would be between 178 and 195 spaces for faculty and staff in "an assortment of places" near the school, but none for students.

The Parking Working Group, a subcommittee of the School Building Committee, considered using the football and track stadium across the street from the high school for parking, said Allen, but it could not find anyplace to relocate the track program, which is attracting an increasing number of students.

"Track is our largest sport at the high school," said Allen. "We did not want to displace a sport."

The subcommittee also looked at having cars parked on nearby tennis courts, but that, she said, proved too costly.

Allen said her group will propose a shuttle-bus service to accommodate those students who drive to school and will have to park some distance away.

"It's going to be very tough," said Allen. "We'll have to change some behavior out of necessity."

"We're talking only about parking during construction," said Selectwoman Katherine Babson, chairwoman of the School Building Committee. "There's been a huge amount of analysis and work, but I think we're at a point where we've got a very viable, reasonably priced plan."

The plan, she noted, will still need to go through the permitting process and win a green light from the town's Wetlands Protection Committee and Natural Resources Commission.

The Natural Resources Commission's executive director, Janet Hartke Bowser, said the wetlands and resources committees would probably hold several meetings to examine the feasibility of the sites under consideration for parking.

Although Allen declined to discuss details of the proposal before it is presented to the School Committee, she said her panel's recommendation is largely based on cost. The parking and transportation plan during construction is a cost the town must bear without state assistance.

Earlier this month, the Massachusetts School Building Authority approved a plan for Wellesley's new high school that scaled down the facility to 280,000 square feet, from 327,000 square feet. Under the new plan, the state would contribute roughly $40 million toward the project.

The town is now developing schematic designs and a budget, and will need to gain approval from Special Town Meeting and voters townwide for a property-tax increase to cover the final price tag. The vote is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 9.

A public hearing on the parking issues surrounding the new Wellesley High School project has been scheduled for Sept. 3, starting at 7:30 p.m., in Town Hall.