This map shows the location of the parcel containing a house that the Carroll School is buying (click to enlarge).
By Alice Waugh
The Carroll School has acquired a parcel of land on Waltham Road in Wayland close to the Old Sudbury Road town line in Lincoln. The school hopes to use the land for middle school athletic fields and educational facilities for two grades now housed at its Baker Bridge Road site in Lincoln.
The pair of parcels at 39 and 45 Waltham Road in Wayland total 11.4 acres and include a 20,400-square-foot house. The $5 million purchase is expected to close on May 2, said Head of School Steve Wilkins. If all goes as expected, the school will relocate 40 students in grades 8 and 9 to the Wayland site starting in fall 2017 and have new fields ready for use by spring 2017, he said.
The school has hired a traffic engineer to gauge the impact of extra traffic on Waltham Street/Old Sudbury Road, which some commuters use as a shortcut between Route 126 in Wayland and Route 117 in Lincoln. Carroll’s school day starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m., while after-school activities conclude at 4:45. Parking along that road is not permitted in either town, so visitors to the Wayland campus will park on that property, Wilkins said.
“Our general strategy is to disperse our student population so there’s less of a traffic hassle in general,” Wilkins said, adding that when the school opened its Waltham campus six years ago, Baker Bridge Road traffic issues were significantly reduced.
“We think we’re better neighbors by dispersing, and we’re optimistic that our impact will be fairly small,” he said.
The Carroll School has two campuses: the middle school (grades 6-9) in Lincoln and the lower school (grades 1-5) on Trapelo Road in Waltham just east of the Cambridge Reservoir. In addition to its main site with its brick school building dating from 1905, the school owns to other noncontiguous pieces of property on Baker Bridge Road: one at #54 and the other abutting the west side of the Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program property.
Last year, the school began looking at options to meet its growing need for middle-school athletic fields but found that putting regulation-size fields on the Lincoln campus was cost-prohibitive due to the topography and space limitations. Putting a field on the other side of Baker Bridge Road could be a significant safety risk due to the traffic on the narrow, curvy road, according to an announcement by school officials posted on the school’s website.
School officials only learned in January about the availability of the Wayland property, which is owned by a former Carroll School parent, Wilkins said. “We moved really, really quickly, so we haven’t had time in two months to really finalize plans,” he said.
The Wayland Planning Board has not yet received any applications for the properties in question. Lincoln would not have any direct involvement, though Lincoln abutters within a certain distance may be notified of any proposals, said Lincoln Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney.
“I’m sure the town of Lincoln will want to be involved and send comments to Wayland. However, nothing has been filed with Wayland so there isn’t anything to comment on at this time,” she said.
The Carroll School, which serves students with language-based learning disabilities, has been in Lincoln since 1967.
As most of you might know, there has been plenty of discussion on Lincoln Talk about the heavy traffic in town. I now wonder if this new acquisition will add to the enormous amount of cars traveling down Lincoln Road on the south side of Route 117. Everyone must know it’s a great cut through town to avoid the stoplight at the Route 117/126 intersection. As I type, I can hear a steady stream of cars most of which love the very straight drag resulting in high speeds ALL day long! I urge the Carroll School administration to encourage their families to use the main thoroughfares as much as possible. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated. Thank you.