Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Facilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
McKinley redesign to add early‑childhood center, regional 911 hub; planners say project will restore historic building and add public space
Summary
City planner Tom Skorofsky presented a redesign for McKinley School that would restore the 1904 and 1924 wings, locate an early‑childhood center and municipal offices there, and house a Metro North regional 9‑1‑1 center (MREC) in a new wing; committee members pressed planners on parking and drop‑off logistics.
City planner Tom Skorofsky told the Riviera School Committee on Sept. 9 that the McKinley School redesign will reunite municipal services and school programs in a historic rehabilitation that includes an early‑childhood education center, municipal offices and a Metro North Regional Emergency Communications Center (MREC).
Skorofsky said the 1904 building will house the early‑childhood center and basement space for retirement and parking offices, while a new middle corridor and a rehabilitated 1924 wing will host the MREC, the 9‑1‑1 call center that Skorofsky said will serve Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea. "We will be bringing Chelsea into the fold," he said, adding that the consolidation "creates some really nice efficiencies between the three communities" and is "a huge cost savings for the city."
The plan calls for eight classrooms, administrative space, a third‑floor indoor play center that can be used for community events in the evening, and new landscaping and public plazas at the front of the building. Skorofsky said the project will provide ADA access via a central corridor containing elevator bays and shared building services; a speaker added that the corridor will make the entire building fully accessible.
Committee members focused questions on parking and pickup/drop‑off. Committee member Kingston said he was "concerned about the number of spaces" and asked where staff and visitors would park. Skorofsky and city staff said the design adds on‑site parking on the Foster Street side and uses on‑street spaces; they said the municipal lot at City Hall would be available for overflow, particularly for off‑hour training events at the MREC. Skorofsky acknowledged that pickup and drop‑off will be the project's trickiest operational issue and said the city expects to address it with a combination of signage, enforcement and designated drop‑off spaces.
Architectural renderings shown to the committee include new planting and a front plaza intended as a small public gathering space. Skorofsky emphasized that the project is intended both to house municipal functions and to "enliven this beautiful historic building and bring back its grandeur."
No formal vote was taken at the meeting; the presentation was an update and Q&A. Staff said they will continue coordination with the three user groups on parking allocation, circulation and security arrangements for the MREC.
