BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – In a recent Rockingham School Board meeting in June, a “tentative plan” had been decided upon in regards to converting the now-vacant lot at 66 Atkinson Street into a newer, expanded playground for Central School, which would also create more room on the Church Place side of the playground for additional school parking.
What was once the home of the Meeting Waters YMCA, and before that a Methodist meeting house, became the property of the town three years ago via tax sale, when the dilapidated building was demolished. Initially, a local group suggested building a community garden on the open lot, however, concerns of contamination or pollution stalled the idea.
School Superintendent Andrew Haas reported that after a recent town meeting, it was suggested that the existing school playground be shifted into the vacant lot, which would also create parking space on the Church Place side of the shifted playground.
“The first step was recently adopting a plan for getting a small amount of pollution on the site remediated,” Bellows Falls town manager Scott Pickup said in a recent interview. “A very early conversation will soon be starting up with members of the RSB [Rockingham School Board] and the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union representatives to discuss potential improvement possibilities, including a garden project with Bellows Falls Trades, some playground and sidewalk improvements, and the final design for the School and Atkinson Street project.”
A few of the concerns about the project include the overall cost of the renovations and pollution control, how construction will affect traffic, and a drainage problem around the school and parking lot.
There was no formal vote at the last meeting, but the board agreed to have Haas pursue the project further with town officials. He indicated that the Town of Rockingham will be looking to apply for state and federal highway grants to help pay for the project.
In fact, they have already started working on making improvements to the Atkinson/School Street and School Street Extension intersection as to make the entire area safer for not only the school children, but all pedestrians. Some of the improvments being considered include better lighting at the intersection, and “bump-outs” to help slow traffic down. There are hopes that the details can be worked out in time to start the project next summer.