A former Lexington building committee chair says someone has filed a state appeal challenging the environmental permits for the town's $660 million high school project — a challenge that could delay a timeline already years in the making.
What's actually being appealed.
Peter Kelley, a 77-year resident living within a block of the center sports fields, disclosed the appeal in a letter to the Lexington Observer, writing that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection "had received a request for an appeal to the Lexington High School's order of conditions." He didn't name who filed it.
The appeal targets permits for the "Bloom" design, a planned 60-foot masonry building on the center sports fields — land that sits on a flood plain containing wetlands and was gifted to the town in 1915 specifically for "parks and playgrounds." That history matters legally: it makes the land Article 97-protected open space under the Massachusetts Constitution, a designation that comes with its own legal hurdles.
Why this land was avoided once before.
Kelley chaired Lexington's building committee in the 1990s during the last high school renovation, when the same land came under consideration — and was "quickly rejected... for both environmental and functional reasons," he wrote.
The claim nobody's heard before: there was a simpler option.
Kelley also raised something new to the public conversation: that the project's own architect, SMMA, proposed an alternative design back in 2024 that would have avoided the environmental conflicts entirely. "SMMA, our designers, offered a very viable plan, C6, back in 2024. It was never discussed in public," Kelley wrote. "It would have stayed off our park, avoided all wetland impacts, avoided Article 97 protected land and delivered much needed classrooms two years before Bloom could."
The stakes for the project overall.
Bloom is estimated at roughly $660 million, making it one of the most expensive public high school projects in the country. The Massachusetts School Building Authority approved a $118.8 million grant in October 2025, and the Select Board approved a land swap that same month to build on the current sports fields while converting the old school site into recreational space. The new school is slated to open for the 2029-2030 school year — a timeline a DEP appeal could now push back, though how much depends entirely on the outcome.
What we still don't know.
The Lexington-Concord Courier hasn't independently confirmed the filing with MassDEP, and neither the School Building Committee nor SMMA has commented on the appeal or on Plan C6. The last public budget update came in April, when officials said design cost estimates remained within expectations — with no public statement on environmental permits since.
Where to follow along.
The School Building Committee's Financial Oversight Subcommittee meets remotely Thursday at noon. Residents can check the town's meeting calendar for future meetings and comment opportunities.
