Brookline Town Meeting Tuesday, What's On Tap? Newbury College

BROOKLINE, MA — Two Special Town Meetings will be held at the Brookline High School Auditorium on Greenough Street Tuesday beginning Tuesday night. Much of the evening will be spent talking about the property on Fisher Hill known as Newbury College.

For the first part of the meeting there are three things on the docket, including a request for the some 240 elected officials to approve the funding that would go toward a contract agreement the town has reached with the police union.

The last two are related to the 7 acres of property at Newbury College and whether the town will consider acquiring that property for use as an elementary school or otherwise.

Separately, Town Meeting Member Regina Frawley gathered enough signatures on a petition to ask the town to acquire Newbury College.

When 200 registered voters or 20 percent of registered voters sign a petition asking for a Special Town Meeting, it goes to the Town Clerk, who goes through the list to make sure all the names are residents. This petition was separate from the other warrant process, thus the two special town meetings in one night.

For years, Brookline has been searching and narrowing options to find a ninth elementary school and has discussed the possible need for a tenth to address space needs in the district. Although the Town voted to support the ninth elementary school at the Baldwin site and that plan moved ahead to fund a schematic design there at the last Special Town Meeting in December, it has been contentious.

When Newbury College announced it would close the day after Town Meeting met, even before the college officials were talking about what to do with the 7 acres of land and buildings, residents in Brookline were asking Town Select Board members and each other about the possibility of purchasing the property for a new elementary school.

And Special Town Meeting two:

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• Brookline Eyes Newbury Land After College Closure
• Brookline's Newbury College To Close, Cites Financial Issues