The Bristol Technical Review Committee met last week to review plans for a new Mt. Hope High School. The committee includes representatives from numerous Bristol boards and town government, all of which will have a say in approving the final design of the school. The meeting largely focused on issues such as parking, coastal erosion, and the artificial turf that would replace the school’s primary sports field.

Parking

Bristol residents have expressed their concern about parking issues at the proposed new school. The current plan is for the new school to have 248 off-street parking spaces, according to PARE Corp Vice President David Potter. This would include parking for 122 staff members, 116 students, and 10 visitors. The current Mt. Hope High School has 281 parking spaces.

Concerns were brought up about the lack of parking during events, such as the previous week’s football and soccer games. “There were people parked in the cemetery during the football game,” said planning board member Jessalyn Jarest. “It was all over the downtown Bristol Facebook page. I didn’t get into the comments because they were nasty.” It was, however, pointed out that there were parking spots available at the school, but people opted against it as the cemetery was closer to the football field.

Principal planner and zoning enforcement officer Edward Tanner also mentioned that he had gotten complaints about people parking in the cemetery parking lot. Kris Bradner of Traverse Landscape Architects told the group that traffic will be much improved compared to the current school. “The access and the flow of traffic at the new school is going to be a huge improvement compared to right now,” she said.

Flooding and environmental concerns

Environmental and flooding concerns were a topic of debate, particularly regarding whether the new school’s location would be fit for a major flooding event. The current plan proposes knocking down buildings that exist in a flood plain and replacing them with a new building outside of the flood plain, as shown in an official Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) map. However, concerns from members of the planning committee focused on these FEMA maps, which they said needed to be updated.

While the maps are the most recent, and considered the most accurate maps of flooding on the Bristol shoreline, they were made in 2014. Global warming and climate change were brought up, with some believing that some areas of the map are mislabeled as minimum flood risk.

According to Potter, as well as Tanner, the maps are updated only every 25 years. However, it was acknowledged that the FEMA 2014 map is the industry standard for any flood mapping. Tanner also said that all the building codes and zoning ordinances reference the FEMA map.

Potter mentioned that they are not allowed to build within a flood plain and would have to reimburse the town if they did. In addition, he stated that the current school is below the flood plain and that the upcoming school would be above the flood plain, helping ease some of the concerns of the planning committee.

Members of the board also discussed that they are worried about the maintenance of the school, saying that current maintenance has been neglected. Superintendent Ana Riley said they have been adding more money to the maintenance budget and are continuing to improve in that regard. In addition, she mentioned that maintenance will be less of an issue in newer, modern buildings.

Turf field and storm management

The current plan also includes new ways to improve stormwater management at the site, which has long been a problem for that property. The current school has only one detention basin, which provides flow control on runoffs by separating solid items from the water. The new plan will not only see improved quality of stormwater management but will see improvements in the Silver Creek Watershed, as the stormwater that is running off is now far less polluted.

Also discussed was the harvesting of rainwater and an irrigation well system. Michael Igo, from Aqueous, joined the meeting via phone and discussed possible ways to implement a well system into the school grounds. The system would place a well under the turf field and use groundwater to irrigate the natural turf fields. This would help the town save money by avoiding having to use Bristol County’s water. In addition, the idea of storing rainwater in a storage tank was also discussed.

Concerns about the synthetic turf’s environmental and physical safety have been heavily debated during this planning process. Multiple arguments were made in favor of the turf. One was the potential for adding sports such as field hockey at Mt. Hope. According to Athletic Director Christy Belisle, field hockey does more damage to grass than most other sports, including football. It would be nearly impossible to maintain the grass on a field if a field hockey team were playing on it, she suggested.

In addition, there are currently eight teams (5 soccer and 3 football) playing regularly on the football field, which puts enormous strain on natural grass. Belisle also cited field issues at Kickemuit Middle School in Warren, which led middle school teams to use the Mt. Hope field as well. Finally, she mentioned that being on grass puts the teams at a competitive disadvantage because most other high schools are playing on artificial turf these days.

Potter defended the turf as well, mentioning that the turf they use would be fully organic and have little impact on the environment. In addition, he talked about how the well system will transport water away from the turf into grassier areas that are in more need of water. Finally, the type of synthetic turf was discussed as there have been safety tests done on it, by FIFA, as well as professional rugby leagues, that have shown it to be effective in preventing injuries such as rolled ankles and concussions in sports.

The Mt. Hope High School design is once again on the Bristol Planning Board’s agenda for its Oct. 10 meeting.