Potential Board of Ed / Municipal Joint Project Exploration
Hey all! I was going to announce this at the next Mayor and Council Meeting, but since there's some buzz let me talk a little bit about a joint effort that we are entertaining with the Board of Education. In broad strokes, we are looking to potentially facilitate a public/ private partnership where the BOE gets a new building (fully renovated) and the current BOE building would be replaced with something that makes more sense by a train station.
As you may or may not know there was a rejected "Class 5" cannabis (i.e. sales) application at 441-443 E Westfield Ave. The neighborhood didn't like the project, and after much back-and-forth, it was voted down. One positive outcome, however, was the idea of putting something that benefited children here. So we might!
Currently, we are in the early phases of exploring a land swap. This would involve the Board of Education moving to a completely renovated building at 445 E Westfield Ave., and giving up its current location to a private developer. This would mean a brand new office for the BOE, as well as potentially new Pre-K classrooms (which are desperately needed). Mayor and Council would then consider what the developer would like to do at the former BOE site. There's no definitive concept of this yet of either site as we're at the very inception phase, but all parties would ensure a fair value swap, as well as what the town would want replacing the current BOE site by the train station.
I'm incredibly excited to talk about this and plan going forward, and as a bonus for the residents around 441-443 E Westfield Ave, guess what, no cannabis, and a project for the kids, just like you asked :)
More to come on this as we will start to engage planners next week, but I'm thrilled to take you all along for the planning processes as I think this is a monumental opportunity.
On a final note - and I don't want to speak for the BOE - but both sides have been open to exploring this in the past. Anyone who's been inside the current building knows it's a retro-fitted single-family home that is not built for office space. The new building is designed for offices and would provide much-needed space for the BOE to grow into.