One of four new AHS draft concepts showing columns retained.

Discussion previews next forum

UPDATED, Oct. 19: The next forum about planning for the Arlington High School rebuild was set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Thompson School, but that has been postponed to Nov. 27.

Here is what the public was expected to see at the time, a situation that likely will change by late November: Four concepts reflecting efforts by the architect, HMFH of Cambridge, to listen to those who want to retain green space along Mass. Ave. and white columns added to the front of the school in the 1930s.

Members of Save Our Historic Arlington High School, the group seeking to retain these long-established features, were among the 25 people attending the Oct. 16 AHS Building Committee meeting during which the four concepts were unveiled. For some, the revised concepts did not appear to go far enough.

“The building committee has not take seriously the gifts of architects” in town, said Ron Alex, an architect. He cited the Arlington Historical Commission vote to protect the columns and continued to maintain that renovation would cost less.

Cowles disagrees

Lori Cowles, the school project architect, disagreed with Alex’s view that the building shell could be saved, citing a reports at the building committee website. See one here >>

Chris Mungenast, associated with Save Our Historic Arlington High School, said the revised green space “looks like a band,” and he suggested flipping it 90 degrees and building the classrooms first. “That’s most important,” he said.

Cowles said HMFH considered one alternative like this, and it was ruled out because it would have extended classrooms right up to Mass. Ave.

Taking up the bulk of the 2 3/4 hours was discussion of the four concepts. See all four here >>

Work in progress

Those concepts represent how the high school project is a work in progress. Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine had no update on costs. Both design and expense are expected to take clearer shape in midwinter.

Among the comments, those by Committee member Sandy Pooler, deputy town manager, addressing the column, stood out: “Put the columns on an academic facade,” instead of the main entry, he suggested.

“Do we want to see designs that have no columns? … This is the best school for Arlington, and we want to see a 21st-century school.”

Committee Chair Jeff Thielman said he agreed “100 percent.”

Cowles, emphasizing the fluidity of the process, noted the concepts show that expanding the front green continues. The drawing that committee favored shows the buildings now 80 feet deep back from Mass. Ave.

Other concepts gained more depth than that, but required removing a courtyard or putting the performing-arts space on hold for as long as three years. A number of committee members and Principal Matthew Janger did not favor that.

Capping restricts

The rear of the project facing the football field cannot be situated farther back than proposed. That large area has been capped to contain dangerous chemicals once leached from a gasification plant, once on the site if the DPW Yard.

As to the columns, however they are displayed, Cowles said a decision must be made whether to recreate or repair them. She showed a schematic displaying the columns as part of an entry holding up photovoltaic roof line. See the slide called sustainable in this series >>

Superintendent Kathleen Bodie expressed concern about the amount of glass — and how visible students are from the street and whether that raised security issues. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with level of exposure,” she said.

“Vulnerabilities can be anywhere you find them,” Cowles countered.

Janger noted there are lots of ways to create obstacles for a potential attack on a school. He added that he wants ground-floor maker spaces, proposed for the building nearest CVS, to show what students are doing.

Overall, committee members welcome comment at the Oct. 24 forum about the new designs while generally appearing to stick by the overall one approved by the state.

Residents speak

During two rounds of public participation, residents made these comments:

Rachael Starks, founder of the advocacy group Walking in Arlington, expressed concern about the pedestrian environment and welcomed the better access to bikeway proposed.

Elizabeth Terry, an AHS 1987 grad, called the loss of open space in the front not right decision. She urged fewer parking spaces, not more.

Ted Peluso, a Town Meeting member, encouraged the committee to develop for Town Meeting a fallback position about the estimated $70 million to pay for nonschool entities. “I’d like to see it pass,” he said of the school vote next June.

Elizabeth Shea, an AHS neighbor, asked for design relief affecting sound issues, which include night sports events and the impact of the proposed amphitheater. She said it “makes my house unlivable.”

Later in the meeting, committee member Ryan Katofsky noted that as a Summer Street resident he knows about noise and asked whether a barrier could be added on that side of the school.