Town officials are calling a planned $1.5 million transformation behind Nathaniel Morton Elementary School a creative solution to a growing shortage of downtown parking during the summer season.
The town’s parking agency has worked with school officials to work out an exchange: Park Plymouth provides the money for a new and safer playground, enhanced landscaping, less intrusive lighting, and new fencing. The school sacrifices a section of its green space for more paved public parking.
For now, at least, the lot will be free.
As part of an agreement dating back to 2018, the school has been used for free public parking on weekends and in the summer when children are not present, officials said. Even so, they’ve worked to overcome skepticism from neighbors over the expansion plans.
“We thought this was a wonderful team effort approach of two town entities,” said Matthew Durkee, director of facilities for Plymouth Public Schools. “You have Park Plymouth that is out, has paid sites, they’re ticketing people that are not parking properly. They’re using that money and turning it around and putting it back into the town.”
“We would not be able to afford these types of improvements” without Park Plymouth’s support, he said.
Already, Park Plymouth has funded the new school playground, which was opened in November.
“Part of our mission is to try to increase the parking inventory, and this [proposal] was kind of like a win-win for everyone,” said Desmond Egan, director of Park Plymouth, part of a nonprofit agency set up in 2002 to operate Town parking in the downtown corridor. “We don’t have a lot of space to put parking in downtown.”
The school could also use the additional parking to alleviate congested nearby roads during school hours and events, Durkee said.
If approved by Town officials, construction on the new lot would begin after the school closes in June, with an eye toward completing it by the time the children come back in August – an accelerated timeline Durkee described as “a summer slam.”
The improvements are expected to cost between $1.2 and $1.5 million, and include nearly 10,000 square feet of new pavement, 11 new trees, and 70 native shrubs – including some on a portion of grass on the school’s east side.
Currently, school staff parks in a 60-spot lot, which will be expanded to 150 spots.
In a phone interview, Egan said he anticipated parking to be free but couldn’t predict whether it would remain that way years down the line.
“We anticipate it being free, but things change … my board changes, dynamics of downtown change,” Egan said. “It’s certainly going to be free, it’s been free for the past 7 years. We don’t have any plans to charge in the immediate future.”
The new lot is expected to operate as it has since 2018, allowing free, off school hours and weekend parking. The gate of the Union Street entrance to the lot will continue to be locked during school hours, and additional enforcement parameters will be worked out in a legal agreement between Park Plymouth and the school, Durkee said.
Residents have long complained about the condition of the parking and playground area outside the school because of chronic flooding and a roadway intersecting the previous playground areas, Durkee said.
The project will alleviate those problems, Durkee said.
“No water in the neighbors’ basements, more parking for people to enjoy themselves, spend money at the local businesses,” Durkee said at the community meeting with neighbors last week. “Children get a playground all to themselves fenced in and safe away from ongoing traffic, larger parking lot in order to set up our parent and student drop-off and pick up. It’s just wins and wins, and wins with this.”
Neighbors had mixed reactions at an Aug. 26 public hearing to discuss the plan, with some asking for a taller privacy fence and a less intrusive lighting system shining into their backyards.
Kate Sekerak, who lives on Bradford St., said the renovation “is going to be a great improvement, but we definitely have to address specifically the fence and the lighting.”
“It’s been a blight, frankly, on the neighborhood,” Sekerak said of the existing parking lot. “The parking lot’s been horrible. It’s been broken up and full of mud and sand for many years.”
Officials held an informal follow-up meeting with neighbors for input on fencing and lighting options.
Dennis Soares, who lives nearby, said he was concerned about noise and pollution coming from the lot. He has also asked for an 8-foot tall, solid fence.
“Us, the residents, you have to think about us, our lives, and our homes more than how many cars we can park there,” Soares said.
Durkee said the school officials will be asking the Zoning Board of Appeals for permission to build a fence taller than the six feet currently allowed. The plan must also be approved by the Planning Board and the Historic District Commission before construction can begin.
The proposal is the town’s latest effort to increase available public parking as several more ambitious plans for downtown parking garage proposals have fallen short in recent years.
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily@plymouthindependent.org.