THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, June 23, 2023 Page 9 from the school to Hemlock Rd will be too steep for a sidewalk. Those who park in the student lot will need to climb 1100 ft of ramps and stairs to get to the to the school daily. The cost to destroy the forested hilltop is approximately $40M. According to the signed budget agreement, MSBA will only reimburse up to $8.3 M for site work. Why would the SBC want the district taxpayers (Chelsea, Malden, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefi eld, Winchester, Winthrop, and Woburn) to pay so much for site costs, not educational costs, when there is no need to do it? This will be a punishing cost for some towns, especially Chelsea, Revere, Malden and Saugus. Project documentation submitted to the MSBA show there are 2 viable alternatives that meet the same educational requirements on the lower campus, site C.1 on the current practice fi eld behind the school and C.2 on the current football fi eld. New fi elds will be built upon the footprint of the current school once it’s demolished. No one will say how they intend to use the current football fi eld. SBC and project documentation show multiple references to a “Future Hockey Rink” presented and discussed in the months leading up to the SBC’s vote to approve the Hilltop Building Site (C.3) in December 2020. The future rink was clearly a factor in the site selection, as evidenced by the Final Evaluation of Alternatives prepared by PMA and submitted to the MSBA. It stated “The district gains additional athletic fi elds with this option [C.3] and maintains the potential of reserving the current football fi eld/ track for future development as a hockey rink.” Again, when MSBA reviewers asked for justifi cation for the high site costs related to the hilltop location, the project team responded “The new football fi eld and track is replacing the existing fi eld and track that is … being reserved for future recreational development (outside of this Project)” By locating the school on the forested hilltop, 12 towns will pay to address the ledge and build a road. Stephen Maio, town administrator and David DiBarri, NEMT superintendent, can now get the rink and road they have wanted for years using new school funding. Developers can aff ordably build whatever “facility” they want on the current football fi eld. The SBC members have not acknowledged that there are better, safer site options for the new school. Residents have spoken of concerns about the safety and access to the new school, the 1100 ft system of stairs and ramps. The SBC responded that there will be liability insurance. Citizens requested an environmental review by the state. Since the SBC denies there are future plans to build a rink, the building plan does not trigger an environmental review. A new energy park is planned for the article 97 land abutting the school site that will leverage solar power generated from the school rooftop to benefit Wakefield customers. The Energy Park is described as part of the school project when the Wakefi eld Municipal Gas and Light Department wants voters to approve the use of the public land. It is described as not part of the school when they’re trying to avoid environmental review, which they have done. There is no scrutiny or oversight. The SBC reports back to themselves while determining what is allowed to exist and spending hundreds of millions of public funds. There is a confl ict of interest law, requiring all municipal employees to act in the public interest. The NEMT SBC has a responsibility for all 12 towns, yes? I do not see stewardship, responsibility, or ethics. The school site had been decided without a word about the location on the ballot to fund the school in January 2022, see the Reading Post article “Why-didnt-the-publicknow-about-the-plan-to-buildthe-new-voke”. There is something called a Right to Honest Services. It is Need a hall for your special event? The Schiavo Club, located at 71 Tileston Street, Everett is available for your Birthdays, Anniversaries, Sweet 16 parties and more? Call Dennis at (857) 249-7882 for details. about transparency, deception and a breach of a fi duciary duty. Why is new school funding being used for this long desired rink and road? The NEMT project team claims that the school property is private land. It is public land which is why the public will pay all costs. The loss of this forest will be ours too. There has been extensive outreach to Massachusetts’s state-level legislative leaders. Many representatives that claim to prioritize the environment support blasting away this core forest and wetland habitat. The safety issues posed by the ramp design and lack of sidewalks within the campus cannot be remedied. Students will lose access to the baseball, football and practice fi elds while the hill is blasted and dewatered and rock is crushed for months behind the existing school. Voters were told this site option was the least disruptive. Wakefi eld’s beautiful native forest will turn into a rock quarry with a parking lot. Maintenance for this school site will always cost more. That cost will not be for a better school. It will be for a facility and road that Wakefi eld and NEMT have sought for years. There are better, safer, less expensive and less destructive site options. Please share this information and contact your town. New school site plan pics: tinyurl.com/NEMTSchoolSitePics All citations for this letter: tinyurl.com/WakefieldRinkCitations This letter can be shared: tinyurl.com/WakefieldRinkLetterV2 If you agree or disagree, have questions or advice please write to whyshouldwepay01880@ gmail.com No taxpayer dollars were spent bringing you this information. Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma 425r Broadway, Saugus Located adjacent to Kohls Plaza Route 1 South in Saugus at the intersection of Walnut St. We are on MBTA Bus Route 429 781-231-1111 We are a Skating Rink with Bowling Alleys, Arcade and two TV’s where the ball games are always on! 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