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North Attleborough communications subcommittee schedules abutters meeting and two community forums ahead of MSBA submission and June vote
Summary
The communications subcommittee outlined outreach for the proposed school project: an abutters meeting next week to show site plans and logistics, fact sheets and FAQs for residents, monitoring and sustainability presentations, and community forums May 8 and May 29 ahead of a June 3 vote. Water, lighting and traffic are planned topics.
Speaker 2 (Unidentified) said the subcommittee’s outreach plan includes three priorities: review of recent town-council presentations, an abutters meeting scheduled for the week after this April 3 meeting, and two community forums timed around the MSBA schematic submission and the June vote. "The invitations for those went out Tuesday," Speaker 2 added, and organizers will share the mailing list for follow-up.
The group confirmed the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) schematic design submission is expected immediately after early May activities; Speaker 2 said the team intends to file the submission and will present a May 5 session to review an estimated average tax impact once cost estimates are reconciled. "We will not have the agreement from the MSBA, but based on the funding we should be able to calculate," Speaker 1 (Unidentified) said, underscoring that the number is subject to MSBA review.
For the abutters meeting, Speaker 2 described a short presentation focused on the overall site plan, renderings of the building and a logistics video to show how circulation and construction phasing will work, followed by a Q&A to gather neighbors’ concerns. Neighbors on Stoddard, Laurelwood and Janice Drive were specifically identified as invitees. The subcommittee instructed staff to confirm mailings and to have local members contact recipients to ensure notices were received.
Stormwater, lighting and traffic emerged as likely top concerns. Speaker 3 (Unidentified), who described engineering responsibilities, said the project will include detention systems and that overflow will be routed into the town system as part of the design. Speaker 5 (Unidentified) acknowledged past, uncoordinated projects had contributed to local drainage problems and said the project’s coordinated approach should address those issues.
The subcommittee also weighed communications materials. Members recommended producing a concise, nonpartisan fact sheet and refreshing the website FAQ with links to short video clips or presentation segments so residents can quickly find authoritative answers. The group referenced a recent Board of Public Works water flyer as an effective model and discussed limits on the district’s use of print resources vs. campaign groups’ outreach.
On sustainability and operations, the committee plans an April 7 design and sustainability presentation that may run longer than the usual 10–15 minutes; participants discussed commissioning and monitoring options, noting MSBA or third-party agents often provide post-construction training and multi-year monitoring to ensure systems perform as designed.
The subcommittee set a primary community forum for Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m., and a tentative late-May forum for May 29 to serve as a last opportunity for questions before the June 3 vote. Speakers asked staff to check scheduling conflicts (awards nights and graduation) and to keep the May 19 town-council slot flexible in case emergent issues surface.
The meeting closed after a motion to adjourn; an "Aye" was recorded and the meeting ended.
What happens next: the subcommittee will share the abutters mailing list with local contacts, finalize the May 5 tax-impact review materials, produce a one-page fact sheet and expanded FAQs, and proceed with the April 7 design/sustainability presentation and the May 8 community forum.
