Westport BOE votes to pursue new building for Long Lots

WESTPORT — Long Lots Elementary School is one step closer to a new school, though some residents and board members are still discussing the best course of action to take.

The Board of Education voted 6-0 to move forward with building a new elementary school at the existing lot, though the exact location is still being worked out.

“Once in a generation of building a new, shining school that’s going to be there for the next 50-plus years — it doesn’t get more exciting than this as a board member,” BOE member Robert Harrington said at Monday’s meeting.

The board also authorized Superintendent Thomas Scarice to file a grant application by June 30, 2023, which includes preparing educational specifications, updated enrollment projections, project budgets, and environmental site assessments.

The school is still in its early stages, and the design and layout have not been determined. Some of the further tasks include boring to see what’s underneath the ground, conducting a traffic study and studying the wetlands and land usage.

“Just to be clear,” Harrington said, “we’re supporting the new building and supporting the recommendation, but, in terms of the actual parameters of where the school will be, there’s still a lot of potential flexibility, based on what the studies come back and say.”

Scarice clarified that in this point in the process, the studies have only determined whether the land is suitable to house another school, not the specifics of where it will be located.

The discussion about Long Lots has lasted months, with different proposals of what to do with the facility. One proposal suggested remodeling the old building, but after review, and recommendation from Scarice, the building was determined unfit for remodeling.

Several neighbors said they supported building a new school, which was needed, but raised drainage concerns and questioned placing it where the athletic fields are, which seems to be the preferred approach at the moment.

“My desire is for the new building to be situated and built in the most practical, least problematic way for all stakeholders, given we are baking the cake for the next 50 to 60 years,” said Zach Resnick, a Westport resident.

He thanked the board for their hard work and asked them to commission additional tests that situate the school and bus loop on the upper field or a more central location on the campus, as options. He also asked for them to include buffer areas into the landscaping plan to create separation between the school and neighbors, conduct the traffic study during peak school times rather than during the summer and to continue with the geotechnical and engineering surveys of the campus, but commit to engaging in as detailed of a study as possible about drainage and water runoff.

Another resident, Edie Anderson, said she is not against a new school, but has strong objections to the current location proposal.

“My main concern is that there seems to be a rush to focus on one, possible site before the entire site is really, clearly evaluated,” Anderson said.

She said the expert determining the general location said that the land is viable for a school, but his objective was not finding the best site.

“It needs to be more seriously considered from many different perspectives,” Anderson said.

Anderson mentioned some environmental issues, specifically with water runoff. She said that the athletic field provides a buffer from the runoff going into Muddy Brook, which is known as a flood zone.

She also talked about the mold issues in Long Lots.

“Why would you put a brand-new building on the wettest possible place, on a very large campus before you’ve explored putting it in a much better place, where it would have more space around it and have more opportunity to breathe?” she asked.