Mia Bomback reports:
No decision was made last night on an elementary school.
Or a garden.
But the Long Lots School Building Committee inched closer to a final plan, at their meeting in Town Hall.
Members discussed 6 proposals for renovating or reconstructing the 70-year elementary school. They also discussed a timeline for presenting those plans to the Planning & Zoning Commission, and Board of Finance.
The various proposals faced criticism from Westport residents, who are particularly concerned about the impact on the adjacent Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve. No votes were taken on the half-dozen plans — or their effect on the gardens and preserve — pending cost estimates from Newfield Construction.
Long Lots Elementary School. The Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve (not shown) are to the left of the parking lot in the lower left corner. (Drone photo/Brandon Malin)
Plans A and B — which call for the renovation of and addition to the existing school — raised concerns among committee members due to undersized classrooms. Members said those plans fail to meet state Board of Education requirements.
Plan B would replace the gardens with a baseball diamond.
Plans C, C-ALT, D and E call for the complete demolition and reconstruction of Long Lots Elementary School. Plans C, D and E would require relocation of the garden, while Plan C-ALT would allow the garden to remain at the expense of Long Lots’ baseball diamond.
Plan C would relocate both the school and the garden.
Advocates for the community garden voiced support for Plan C-ALT, arguing that moving a garden of this size is “impossible,” and that the only way to safeguard it is to keep it where it is.
James Mather, a longtime Westporter, said, “You can’t move a garden that took 20 years of work. Your casual indifference that the garden is a potted plant is disgusting.”
Some gardeners expressed concerns that their interests are being overshadowed by sports fields. They demanded that a Parks & Recreation Department survey detailing the usage of the sports fields on Long Lots property be publicized before any decisions about which plan (or plans) to move forward with are made.
Westport Community Gardens, and adjacent Long Lots Preserve.
“We see the care that you take in deliberating athletic fields, and we don’t see that with the gardens,” gardener Toni Simonetti said.
“I just can’t believe that this far into the process we don’t have any record of how utilized the lower-level baseball field is, and we’re considering destroying a garden that is treasured and loved by 120 families,” Mather’s wife Karen said.
Long Lots School Building Committee members debate Plan E (shown on large screen). (Photos/Mia Bomback)
Ex officio committee member Liz Heyer — who also sits on the Board of Education — reassured the gardeners that their voices and opinions were being taken into account. She noted that board members previously voted against plans that would limit parking access to the gardens.
The committee’s intended timeline also posed controversial. Chair Jay Keenan expressed a desire to request an 8-24 (municipal improvement review) from the P&Z or secure funding from the Board of Finance in the coming weeks, ideally presenting to the Representative Town Meetings on November 14.
John Suggs, an RTM District 9 candidate advocating for the garden’s preservation, likened this timeline to the “moral equivalent of the Amy Coney Barrett being rushed through the US Senate confirmation process one week before the election.”
“Believe me, the voters are pretty speaking out on this,” he said.
The committee plans to make their recommendation after receiving price estimates from Newfield Construction, expected within the next one and a half to 2 weeks.
(Reporter Mia Bomback is a Staples High School junior, and a writer for Inklings)
(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)