WILMINGTON, MA — The Wildwood School Building Committee was slated to make its most consequential decision to date — selecting the project’s site location and grade configuration — at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, but may now wait six additional weeks before voting, in hopes of receiving additional feedback from residents.
Town Manager Eric Slagle and School Superintendent Glen Brand recently recommended the Building Committee consider delaying the vote of the project’s preferred schematic design to Tuesday, October 1, 2024. It will ultimately be up to the Committee, however, to decide whether to take the vote as planned at its August 20, 2024 meeting or delay the vote until October 1, 2024.
“Over the course of the last few weeks, we have been contacted by various members of both the building committee as well as other elected officials who have shared concerns about the degree to which the project has had limited opportunity to gather feedback and opinions from all segments of the community regarding the project,” Slagle and Brand wrote in a memo to the Building Committee. “As a result of these concerns, advocacy has increased for a delay in the forthcoming decision on the preferred project option that is currently scheduled for August 20, 2024.”
“Upon receipt of this information, both of us agree that we should rightfully explore the possibility of delaying this vote and what the ramifications would be for our project. As a reminder, the current timeline of which we are operating under was given to us directly by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and, therefore, any deviation from this is something that we clearly understood has to be explored with their agency,” they continued. “Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the MSBA, along with our design team (Dore and Whittier) and our Owner’s Project Manager (SMMA) to better understand the options before our community regarding this possibility. From our discussion, two things became clear: (1) these types of requests are not infrequent and the MSBA ultimately wants to work with those communities in their programs to ensure a successful outcome; and (2) a delay would certainly be an option for our project if the Building Committee is supportive of this.”
The Committee is currently deciding between a PreK-K school at the Wildwood School site, a PreK-Grade 3 school at the Woburn Street School site, and a PreK-Grade 5 at the North Intermediate School site. New construction, addition & renovations, and repairs of each the three scenario are being evaluated, resulting in nine overall options.
A newly constructed PreK-Grade 5 school at the North Intermediate School site scored significantly higher than the eight other options in the evaluation matrix used by the Building Committee. The option was also the favorite of the majority of community members who attended the Committee’s fourth Community Forum held on August 7, 2024 on ZOOM.
A newly constructed PreK-Grade 5 school at the North Intermediate School site, however, is the most expensive option. Current projections estimate the total project cost at $177.6 million to $196.3 million. After a partial reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Wilmington taxpayers would be responsible for $125.5 million to $138.7 million. Over 30 years, the annual tax increase on an average single family home in Wilmington is currently projected to be around $730, or $61 per month.
While the Building Committee is looking exclusively at the schools on the north-side of town (Wildwood, Woburn St. and North), residents speaking at their meetings, and online, have suggested that the number of school buildings and grade configurations on both sides of town will eventually need to match, and if a PreK-5 “mega school” is built for the students on the north-side of town, another PreK-5 “mega school” will need to be built on the west-side of town soon thereafter. Wilmington would be committing itself to two large school construction projects, not just one, they argue. The Massachusetts School Building Authority only provides reimbursement to communities for one project at a time, and the MSBA process for a building project typically takes 5-7 years from start to completion. Under the current timeline, the earliest a new school would open is 2028. Wilmington would then need to essentially start the process over again for the “west-side” of town (Boutwell, Shawsheen and West).
“While we believe that there has been considerable outreach efforts and input gathered by many members of the community to-date, there is a desire to try and gather more,” wrote Brand and Slagle to the Building Committee. “So, it is recognized that if this is the basis for a delay, we need to have a strategic plan upon which to provide such opportunities.”
The Building Committee’s community outreach efforts have had both successes and failures. Outreach at the town’s Fun on the Fourth Celebration, for example, resulted in approximately 130 residents providing feedback via a survey. The third Community Forum saw a similar amount of residents providing survey feedback. Wilmington, however, has more than 23,000 residents. A recent forum at the Senior Center only garnered interest from three seniors, two of which had ties to the Building Committee.
Anecdotal evidence provided by community members during the “Public Comments” portion of the Building Committee meetings suggest most Wilmington residents aren’t paying attention to the project, and its tax implications. According to the commentors, many residents think the project is just focused on the Wildwood school population (PreK-K), and not potentially the entire “north-side” population of students (PreK-5). The Committee has acknowledged this and may re-brand itself from the “Wildwood School Building Committee” to the “Wilmington Elementary School Building Committee.”
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