Tim Dunn. CapeCod.com
YARMOUTH – The vote on whether to build a new middle school to replace the current Mattacheese Middle School is rapidly approaching for residents of Dennis and Yarmouth.
On December 4, voters in the two towns will be asked in a special town election to support or oppose to replace Mattacheese Middle School with a new Dennis-Yarmouth Middle School on Station Avenue.
The ballot will also feature a question on how to finance the new school.
The Dennis-Yarmouth Board of Selectmen launched a series of public informational sessions on the project on Tuesday at the Yarmouth Town Hall Hearing Room.
“For me, I think these meetings are very important to hear from the public because we’ve been very involved and a lot of the public isn’t familiar with the magnitude of this project that’s coming before them very quickly,” explained Tracy Post, of the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen.
“I’m interested in hearing from them and how they feel about it so that way we ultimately will probably take a position at some point in time, but it’s imperative to hear from the public and see how they feel when we lay out the project to them,” she said.
The session covered the plans for the project, its projected impacts on property taxes, and the status of regional agreement discussions with the Town of Dennis.
Chair of the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen Norman Holcomb says that selectmen haven’t taken an official stance on the matter yet, but says the ongoing dispute about the regional agreement needs to finally come to an end.
“We’ve been saying all along that we believe that the regional agreement needs to be finally settled on between the two towns. I like to think about it as if the regional agreement is at the bottom of the pyramid and you build the region on top of that, if the bottom of the pyramid starts to crumble then the region is going to fall. We believe the key is getting the regional agreement straightened out and then moving forward,” Holcomb said.
The presentation of the new school also pointed out a projected upgrade in the education students attending it would receive.
Another session follows on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. with a final session scheduled for the same time on Tuesday, November 20.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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