Solar Canopy Project Will Not Decrease Number of Parking Spaces for Students

Min Park and Kimia Tabatabaei
Denebola News Reporter and The Lions Roar Senior News Editor

Newton Public Schools, on August 19, announced that parking would only be available on Brandeis Road to students on a first-come-first-serve basis due to the partial closure of the student parking lot from the ongoing solar canopy project.

Following the initial notice, which was sent out by Principal Joel Stembridge, he announced that additional temporary parking spots will be added to Brandeis to offset the spots that were lost.

This solar canopy project is among a series of city-wide projects “designed to decrease energy costs, save taxpayer dollars and utilize clean energy sources,” said Superintendent David Fleishman.

According to Chief of Operations Michael Cronin, the “solar carports” will provide shelter from rain, snow and sunlight for the cars that are parked below them.

“I’m totally not against the project at all like I think it’s a great thing for the school. I just think the timing is completely awful,” said senior Midori Sangiolo.

Cronin, however, explains that everyone involved wanted this project to be completed sooner, but due to a variety of reasons outside of the school department’s control, the timeline was postponed.

According to Public Buildings Commissioner Josh Morse, the project initially began in the early spring of last year, however the project was delayed by the state.“The state passed legislation that changed the laws that governed the solar projects and part of what they changed was the subsidies that make them economically viable,” he said.

Solar projects normally receive subsidies on both state and federal levels, but if the value of the subsidies are reduced then the electricity savings that are gained from solar energy will not be as great and the project is deemed as not “economically viable”.

“By the time we got the information…we realized we were going to most likely be
working into the start of the school year,” Morse said.

Many juniors and seniors have been voicing their frustration over Facebook and directly to the school, stating that the timeline of the project should not overlap with the new school year starting. The unfortunate timing, however, was not in the hands of either school or city officials.

“A lot of people are dependent on cars and it was just a very late notice to give,” said Sangiolo.

The city considered waiting until next year, but chose this year due to both economic and legislative reasons. “The state has told us that this January they’re going to be redoing the subsidies again and it’s most likely not going to be in our favor. Hence the reason we were pushing to try and get this done this year,” Morse said.

Sangiolo said this project is especially inconvenient for seniors who are already concerned about college applications. “Parking should not be something you have to worry about in the morning. It should just be you go and you park and you’re done,” she said.

In reality, however, students will not be losing any parking spaces throughout the installation process. The city has already created over 100 temporary parking spots on Brandeis and have painted lines for pre-existing spots to make it easier for students to park, said Cronin.

The project will be completed in three phases where the construction workers will take over the front and middle of the teacher lot in the first and second phase and will finally take over the student lot in the third phase.

Although 50 parking spots will be taken over at a time, throughout the entire process, students will have access to 100 extra parking spaces than they previously did.

“I don’t think it’s as big a deal as people are making it out to be…It’s a big overreaction at the initial email and that all the facts weren’t put out there,” senior Ruslan Crosby said.

Junior and South Senator Michael Ryter adds, “there’s nothing we can do because the funding for the project is distributed by the government. The city has financial incentive to complete the project now so now they can’t really back down.”

On September 1, Stembridge wrote that he and other school officials are requesting that parents avoid the construction as much as possible. “Do not drop students off in front of the Wheeler entrance” and “do not use the Breezeway Lot for drop-off “, but instead “consider dropping students off a block or two away from school and having them walk to the school,” he said.

According to David Fleishman, this project will most likely be completed by early November and parking routines at South will be returned back to normal by then.