On Tuesday January 30th, the Waltham School Committee and Waltham City Council will hold a joint meeting to discuss the Waltham High School Project and its potential location, including land formerly and presently on the Robert Treat Paine Estate public open space.
The meeting is at 7:00 pm in the Cannon Lecture Hall, Waltham High School, 617 Lexington St.
Learn about the Paines' forest in context of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of public parks, national parks and forestry in America.
See pages 9 and 10 the Superintendent's presentation to the Waltham City Council. In this presentation, the two Paine Estate parcels that are being considered for the project are called Storer Conservation Land and Former Coleman-Stanton Land (better known as Chesterbrook Woods). Although the School Committee had originally excluded these parcels as possible sites for the new Waltham High School, they officially reversed their earlier decision in a vote on January 3rd. The possibility of taking Storer Conservation Lands was informally introduced on January 10th.
In November, the Friends of Stonehurst submitted a letter to the Waltham City Council regarding the national importance of the woodlands. Read the Friends of Stonehurst position letter to the Waltham City Council. Also read the Waltham Land Trust position letter.
A neighborhood group, the Coalition to Save Chesterbrook Woods, created an on-line petition (now closed) to "oppose the use of Chesterbrook Woods as the site for the new high school." Click here for the on-line petition.
For more information:
See the map of the City Acquisition of Chesterbrook Woods for open space.
See the location marked on the 1907 map of the Estate of Robert Treat Paine and the current trail map of this popular park and national treasure.
And, finally, be sure to visit!
