School Committee To Vote On Substation Monday

While most of the attention at Monday's special School Committee meeting at the Chenery Middle School will be concerning the future of freshman sports, the Belmont School Committee will give their answer on a question proposed by the Belmont Municipal Light Department's Substation Site Selection Committee.

Is the School Department able and willing to transfer a slice of property it owns for a new electrical substation?

And while no one at the School Committee is willing to speak officially on the matter, its looking like the committee will give its nod to the Light Department's request as long as some of its own questions are answered concerning the safety and operation of a substation next to the high school.

"It is a win-win for the BMLD and the schools," said School Superintendent George Entwhisle, adding that his support is conditional on the site not jeopardizing students' safety or health.

The School Committee will first take on the Substation proposal at 6 p.m., Monday, July 12, before moving onto the freshman sports issue at 7 p.m.

At Thursday, July 8, School Committee's meeting, Robert McLaughlin, chairman of the Light Department's 115 kV Site Selection Committee who requested the meeting a week earlier, asked the School Committee – which was meeting without a quorum – if they had the ability turn over a section of land at the edge of the High School tennis courts adjacent to the commuter rail line to the Light Department.

The meeting came a week after the BMLD Site Selection committee met and delayed negotiations on the possible purchase of the controversial Purecoat North site adjacent Belmont High School and the commuter rail tracks as the future home of a electrical substation.

The stumbling block remains whether the School Committee has the ability to transfer a parcel of land including part of the High School's tennis court to the Light Department.

McLaughlin told the meeting the record temperatures of that week – having reached 90 and above for three days - had significantly taxed the town's electrical capacity creating a "sense of urgency' on the Site Selection committee's part to finally reaching a decision on where to place the substation.

And time is not on the Light Department's side in terms of the next best location: the controversial Purecoat North building that abuts the High School site.

McLaughlin stated that the Light Department would need to begin negotiations with the Purecoat property owners in the next few weeks as they have informed the town they will not wait all summer to begin talks on the site.

McLaughlin said if the High School location were selected, it would be a "good deal" for the Light Department, schools and taxpayers.

The Light Department will receive the property for little cost – as opposed to a $6 to $7 million McLaughlin said it will take to purchase the Purecoat site – and the schools will receive a new synthetic Turf Field for soccer and softball, 5,000 square feet of storage space to the High School and revitalized tennis courts.

McLaughlin requested the meeting to determine if the school department had clear title on the land to transfer it and if there would be any restrictions that would prevent the site from being given to the Light Department.

Jeanne McKnight, the town counsel involved in the title searches of the property, said it appeared that the school department did have the ability to move forward on the proposal.

said while the ultimate decision will be in the hands of Superintendent Entwhisle, that her sense was that the committee would be "very willing to pursue" the transfer of the land.

Rittenburg did say the Light Department would need to answer concerns of "health, safety and security of the students and staff" that placing an electrical substation would possibly have.

Yet when Rittenburg suggested taking the plan to town officials to discuss the impact the transfer would have on the future locations of other town buildings such as the public library, police station and public works department, McLaughlin responded with a tart rejection of that suggestion.

"Not to be impertinent, but we need an answer in a week and what you're suggesting is not possible," said McLaughlin, who said the deal would then be brought before a Town Meeting in September to be approved.

"I want to present (town meeting) with a proposal and what I heard today I believe that is what we'll have," said McLaughlin.