The most fervent opponents of Lincoln Academy’s previous plan to build a dormitory at its Newcastle campus expressed support for a new plan Nov. 21.
Lincoln Academy representatives presented the plan for the dormitory and a technology center to the Newcastle Planning Board.
The new plan switches the building sites. The school now plans to build the applied technology and engineering center into a hill below the track, while the dormitory will stand along the third-base line of the baseball diamond.
The buildings will not be visible from Academy Hill Road. The switch would also allow the dormitory to have an in-ground basement, which would bring the height of the building in line with Newcastle regulations.
Architect Tor Glendinning re-designed the technology center, while the design for the dormitory will remain almost the same as in the previous plan, except for the in-ground basement.
Landscape architect Patrick Carroll said the suggestion to switch the building sites originated with a member of the audience at a previous planning board meeting. “We think it’s a much improved plan,” Carroll said.
The dormitory will be 27 feet away from the fence along the third-base line, and will have “impact glass” to protect against foul balls, Carroll said. The school might also install a large backstop.
The school plans to eventually build a new athletic complex in the vicinity of the new tennis courts. The existing baseball diamond could become a common.
Martha Frink and Jonathan Hull, neighbors of the school who were among the most vocal opponents of the previous plan, spoke positively about the changes.
The new design “seems to be more integral with the campus as opposed to a big wart on top of the hill,” Frink said. “I like that aesthetically.”
“I’m very impressed by the changes,” Hull said. “You met my big concerns.”
“Right now what I want to do is learn a lot more, but it solves a whole slew of problems … You’re probably going to hear me at public hearing saying, ‘Go for it,'” Hull said.
A public hearing about the plan will take place before the Newcastle Planning Board at 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 12 at the 86 River Rd. fire station.
The dormitory will house students in the school’s growing boarding program.
