Planning Board Hears Scaled Down Version of Petersen Pool

Originally published Dec. 14, 2016

BRAINTREE, MA — If everything stuck to the original timeline, Petersen Pool would be under construction right now and on its way to making East Braintree tugboat captain August Petersen's decades-old dream of a community pool come true.

Instead, the project was in front of the Planning Board Tuesday night with a scaled-back proposal and a footprint that decreases the original size of the building by nearly 50 percent.

"One of the purposes of tonight’s meeting is to present a revised building design," Scott Lacy, an attorney for the developer said. "We have heard from staff, board members, and the public a lot of concern about the size, traffic, proximity to abutting structures, stormwater management, among other things."

What was a roughly 157,00o-square-foot building has been reworked into one that is just over 86,600 square feet. While the two rinks and pool remain, the indoor turf field is gone. The new proposal has the building sitting further away from the property line and the closest abutters. Those traveling to the building will have to use Town and Franklin Streets as the Granite Street entrance has been removed from the plans.

On the ice, one sheet comes with bleacher and a higher capacity is designed to host big games and MIAA tournament events. At the other rink, there will be two rows of bleachers on one side.

The update was a welcome change for the Planning Board, who were more than positive about the development.

"I think the new configuration fits a little more nicely on the site. I think it’s beneficial to pull the building away from abutters in the north. I think another positive is removing the entrance from Granite Street," board member Erin Joyce said. "From my perspective, this is a positive change."

"Now that you’ve cut the size of the building in half, that is positively going to affect your calculations for traffic, parking, and runoff - our three main concerns," board member Joseph Reynolds said.

During the hearing, some spoke in favor of the project, telling the board that having a swimming and hockey facility would take away the risk of having to drive to out of town facilities.

"There’s 55 (Braintree High School) swimmers, there were four car accidents from those swimmers having to go to Canton to swim," parent Kristen Sullivan told the board.

The board will return to the Petersen Pool public hearing early next year.

Image: file photo