Community Meetings On New High School At Stigmatines Begin

WALTHAM, MA — As the city awaits the results of a feasibility study and works with an architecture firm to hammer out plans for the new high school on the Stigmatines property, the official meetings for input from residents have started.

After much back and forth, the $380 million project to build a new high school in response to rising enrollment and a new educational plan, was given the green light. Earlier this year the city council changed course and voted to take the religious property by eminent domain and approved funding for a feasibility study.

The Waltham School Committee and superintendent's office have long argued that 544 Lexington was the only appropriate property available in the city that will work with their educational plan.

Residents will have a chance to comment on the Waltham High School building project and talk with city officials and representatives from the architecture firm at a community meeting at 6 p.m. Wed., Dec. 5 at Waltham High School.

School building officials held the first of two community meetings last week. Some residents called for unity while others expressed concern, according to the Waltham Channel.

Currently the projected completion date is September 2024. Current estimates call for the blasting of more than 430,000 cubit yards of rock on the property, the Waltham Channel reports. As the cable news channel reported recently; Between the amount of time it will take and the promise of noise and disruption in the neighborhood, residents asked what would be done to protect them from noise, traffic and water runoff from the construction.

>> Read the full Waltham Channel Post here>> Full post here.

Waltham has to make an official site selection and submit data to state school building officials by Jan. 1.

Check out this video from the Waltham Channel on the last meeting, where the Waltham Channel has a fine report on this, that tipped us off.

Previously on Patch: Stigmatines To Waltham: No Surveyors On Our Property (Aug. 2018)

• Residents Camp Out At Waltham City Hall For Latest On High School
• Waltham Residents Rally At City Hall With Message About Stigmatine (Feb. 28, 2018)
• Waltham Mayor Lays Out Case For Stigmatine (Sept. 28, 2017)
• City Council Denies Eminent Domain Taking of Stigmatine (May 23, 2017)
• Stigmatine Official: 'Our Property Is Not For Sale' (May 18, 2017)
• Mayor McCarthy: Why I Didn't Speak At The Stigmatine Meeting(May 17, 2017)
• Waltham City Council Committee Rejects Eminent Domain (May 15, 2017)
• Waltham Mayor Requests Eminent Domain of Stigmatine (Feb. 2017)

Got something to add?
Sign up to post to Patch and tell your neighbors what's going on in town. Post anything from calendar events to a column about a need in your neighborhood to a public meeting folks should know about. Our philosophy is the more neighborhood watchers the better.

Sign up for the free newsletter and get more breaking Waltham news and news alerts like this direct to your inbox. Did we mention it was free?

Photo by Jenna Fisher/ Patch Staff. Fisher can be reached at jenna.fisher@patch.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @ReporterJenna