Release or re-appropriation of May 2017 Baldwin School Special Appropriation

Speicial Town Meeting, November 2017

This article would authorize funding to advance the design of an additional (9th) elementary school for Brookline. At the May 2017 Annual Town Meeting, Town Meeting authorized a limited amount of funding ($100,000 of the $1,500,000 appropriation) to move forward for additional work on the proposed school at 490 Heath Street - the Baldwin School site. The conditions placed on the remaining appropriation called for an affirmative vote from a subsequent town meeting after the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee and an Ad Hoc Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee receive the opinion of Town Counsel and/or outside counsel hired to review land use limitations and protections on both the Baldwin and Soule parcels. This legal analysis is continuing and will be completed by the November Town Meeting. However, pending review of a determination of the National Park Service pertaining to protection of the Baldwin Playground land parcel, alternative sites for the school may need to be considered. Given the potential need to consider privately owned land in this analysis, the Board of Selectmen and School Committee, joined by the Ad Hoc Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee, will conduct an initial review of such sites in executive session.

Should the Board and the School Committee decide that moving forward with the Baldwin site is not the best option for the Town, this article will allow for a re-appropriation of funds for feasibility and schematics for an alternate site. We expect an accelerated decision process if we need to consider alternate sites.