Essex School Panel Sets December Date to Vote on Elementary School Design Program

ESSEX -- September 15, 2025, Essex School Building Committee advances three-site elementary school review, targets December 15 PDP vote. The committee heard its first detailed work plan from JCJ Architecture project manager Fawn Pellegrini at the September 15 meeting, mapping a four-month schedule through submission of the Preliminary Design Program to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The three candidate sites, the existing Essex Elementary School on Story Street, Manchester Memorial Elementary, and a town-owned parcel on Apple Street, were presented in a preliminary opportunities-and-constraints matrix by JCJ principal Jeff Elliott, who noted that off-site utility and road improvements at the undeveloped Apple Street location would be ineligible for MSBA reimbursement and would fall directly to the district and towns. Committee members raised pedestrian and bicycle safety concerns about Apple Street, including sections roughly 14 and a half feet wide, no sidewalks, two bridges of uncertain condition, and a scenic-road designation that may restrict modifications. Six community emails arrived the day of the meeting, five opposing the Apple Street site. Members agreed the project team would draft a formal letter to the Board of Selectmen requesting identification of any additional town-owned parcels meeting minimum site criteria. The committee's next meeting is September 30, when members will score the site evaluation criteria matrix; the first community forum is October 8 at Essex Elementary, with a building tour at 4:30 p.m.