Brookline Select Board remands Pierce School curb-cut decision, urges safe alternatives

The Brookline Select Board on Tuesday remanded a Transportation Board decision on the Pierce Schoolproject, instructing staff and the Transportation Board to revisit plans that would create a curb cut on Harvard Street and remove a northbound left-turn lane at School Street.

The hearing brought residents, traffic engineers and school-designers to the microphone in packed public testimony and a multi-hour staff presentation. John Hebert, a town meeting member and petitioner, argued the decision to eliminate the left-turn lane relied on limited data and would shift hazardous left-turning traffic two blocks north to the Harvard/Auburn intersection, where he said daycare driveways, a gas station and frequent pedestrian activity create a complex and risky environment. "This intersection is extremely busy," Hebert said, urging the board to consider pedestrian safety and parking impacts.

Designers and traffic consultants from Vanasse Associates defended the Transportation Boarddecision as the "least bad" option after several studies and deliberations. Ted O'Hagan, a senior highway engineer from Vanasse, said removing the left-turn lane reduced overall vehicle delays, permitted sidewalk bump-outs to improve the pedestrian and bike-lane experience and limited conflict between buses and a bike lane. The design team also said moving the garage entrance or widening the existing Washington Street approach would require structural work to the library garage and could add significant cost and delay.

But the Select Board and multiple petitioners raised practical and procedural concerns. Petitioners and neighbors said the Harvard Street curb cut would remove three neighborhood parking spaces, interrupt the pedestrian environment on a main commercial street, and increase left-turn activity where students and micromobility users congregate. "Allowing a curb cut, which will introduce more left turns a short distance from that intersection, would add to delays for cars and increase danger for pedestrians," petitioner Carol McBain said.

Town staff, including the building department, cautioned that reworking the Washington Street entrance could trigger code and structural analyses and potentially delay the project. Building department staffer Lap Yen warned that a large redesign at this stage, when construction documents are at 60% completion, could increase cost and schedule risk.

Faced with competing constraints, the Select Board voted unanimously to remand the Transportation Board decision with guidance: the board said it does not want an active curb cut on Harvard Street that would allow routine vehicle crossings of the Harvard Street sidewalk; it wants to preserve the existing left-turn movement from Harvard to School Street; and it directed staff to explore minimally invasive technical solutions (for example, signaling or controlled access) to make the Washington Street entrance and exit more viable without heavy structural work. Chair Bernard Green said the goal was to "keep working on it" so the project can move forward while minimizing new pedestrian hazards.

The Select Boardaction is a remand to the Transportation Board, not an override; the Transportation Board and the school design team must now return with a narrower set of options and analysis addressing sight lines, pedestrian safety near Auburn Street, parking impacts and whether technological controls or emergency-only egress could reduce the need for a regular curb cut on Harvard. The board also asked staff to quantify costs and any code consequences of small changes to the Washington Street entrance before final design decisions.

The Transportation Board's original decisions and the design team's submissions will remain on file as the two boards and the school building committee seek a path the Select Board said must prioritize safety and minimize disruption to the walking environment on Harvard Street. The Select Board remand passed by unanimous voice vote.