Public Comment: Decommissioned School Site Should Be Retained By The Town
Map of developable area at Fort River School, one of two sites being considering for construction of a new elementary school. Photo: You Tube / amhesrtma.gov
The following public comment was sent to the Town Council, Elementary School Building Committee and the Town Manager, on April 28, 2022 via the town’s public comment portal. It is posted here with permission of the author.
I write to support the idea that whichever school is not the site of the new merged school not be sold to developers, but instead be retained as a town resource. Aside from that we may need another school one day, and we’d be land-banking the site for that, there are several public needs that can be fulfilled in an upcycled building. Those include a teen center (maybe BIPOC, maybe not, to be discussed), a senior center, and early childhood education.
Whether that would be in the current Wildwood or Fort River depends on many factors, but as a homeowner on Strong Street, I’d personally favor the intersection of Strong and East Pleasant to not become even more strongly unpleasant, so I’d vote for the new school on the Fort River site. I have heard other reasons, including the amount of level playing field, the amount of work to install the net zero mechanicals, etc.
I don’t think the community is aware of the repercussions of the decommissioned school site becoming a private development. The income to the town would be a much smaller gain than the loss of that valuable site a bigger pain.
Ira Bryck has lived in Amherst since 1993, ran the Family Business Center for 25 years, hosted the “Western Mass. Business Show” on WHMP for seven years, now coaches business leaders, and is a big fan of Amherst’s downtown.