While taking a lunchtime stroll in the neighborhood behind Norwood’s Morrill Memorial Library one recent day, I heard the distinct sounds of heavy construction equipment grinding away at their task. It was an “Aha!” moment. That, I said to myself, is the sound of Norwood getting its new high school. What was planned, discussed, debated and debated some more, voted upon, and finally approved was now a reality.
I was several blocks away from ground zero and couldn’t be absolutely sure it was high school construction sounds I was hearing, but I was 98 percent sure. I’d heard the sounds of construction before.
My own street in the Ward neighborhood just east of the high school is constantly under construction with backhoes digging up road surfaces paved just weeks before. That’s what happens when you live in an old New England town, where an aging infrastructure necessitates a perpetual state of repair.
Neighbors of the high school project have voiced concerns that the noise, dust, and smell of the project are disturbing considerably the quality of life in the neighborhood. One of the more vocal abutters has said he is dissatisfied with town officials’ lack of response. He complained about the dust and smell emanating from the site and said officials are not doing enough to ensure the quality of life for people living in the surrounding area.
Town Manager John Carroll responded that the noise levels are consistent with those of any major construction project.
“Even with a large excavator working on top of the loam pile, the decibel readings were in the 60-decibel range,” said Carroll. “That’s about the reading you get in an office with the air conditioner on.”
Fortunately, the air conditioner in my office is quieter than a construction site. The reality of the project is probably somewhere between the perception of the dissatisfied neighbor and the data offered by the town manager, who has instructed the town’s building inspector to take regular decibel readings at the high school for the duration of the project.
Carroll acknowledged that the project is the largest that the town has ever undertaken and said that the site is well managed. The construction of the new Norwood High School will take an estimated two years to complete.
A two-year construction project is not the same as the periodic digging up of a neighborhood street. The high school project will be a constant source of noise and stress in the lives of those people who live nearby for an extended period of time. That it is a worthwhile project does little to mitigate the stress levels the neighbors are enduring. And it has only just begun.
With that in mind, Selectmen Helen Donohue and Mike Lyons are asking officials overseeing the high school project to consider holding some evening informational meetings for residents to keep them better informed. Currently meetings are held weekly at 9 a.m., a time when few, if any, working residents can attend.
While the 9 a.m. meetings involving contractors, town officials, and project managers are standard procedure for all major town projects, Carroll suggested adding an evening meeting every three months. Lyons suggested holding evening information meetings once a month.
Although there are other ways of getting information, as Selectman Bill Plasko pointed out, including meetings of the Permanent Building Construction Committee every two weeks, an email list for those who sign up for it, and monthly reports during the meetings of the board of selectmen, these meetings are not as inclusive as meetings intended for neighborhood feedback.
It is one thing to be able to access provided information and quite another to be part of a dialogue, to be able to ask questions and feel that concerns are heard by decision-makers. Neighbors are asking to be heard, not just informed.
Perhaps the town can find a way, as it did before the project was voted upon, to hear the concerns of the townspeople most affected by the construction of the new high school. Monthly meetings for neighbors are a must for this largest ever town construction project.
Norwood resident Candace Leary’s Midpoints column appears Mondays in the Transcript.
