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Franklin, MA
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Boulter was one of about 35 students who explored the pros and cons of solar panels, geothermal heating, green roofs and ways to improve bathrooms with low-flush toilets, automatic hand driers and motion-activated faucets at an event at the school yesterday.
"All of these things we're seeing on projects," said Christopher Alles, a project manager at the School Building Authority, mentioning the school's coming upgrades. "This gets students thinking about green design."
Students rarely take such an active role in researching such ideas, Alles said, with parents, town officials and administrators normally proposing them.
While concepts such as geothermal heat may not be possible in Franklin, project designers are considering some of the students' proposals, including making bathrooms more environmentally friendly, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said.I love this collaboration. This is a great practical educational opportunity. Read more about the student work in the Milford Daily News here
After this week's bills are tallied, Franklin Department of Public Works Director Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi said he expects the town to have spent $500,000 to $550,000 of its $750,000 snow removal budget.
"I am concerned," he said. "It hasn't been a good winter to save money. ... We've had over 43 inches of snow in Franklin, and that's what we normally get in a year."
Cantoreggi experimented with only applying salt to main streets and hills earlier in the season to reduce costs. But 50 residents called with complaints about slippery patches in other areas. Public works crews then salted those stretches, he said.
The entire town needed to be salted for Wednesday's storm because the snow was heavy, making it difficult to scrape the roads clear with plows, he said.
"The impact of going to a half-day program would ... lead to a reduction in our foundation budget, which would significantly impact our Chapter 70 money," Goodman said, adding the district's foundation budget for kindergarten is $3.4 million for this school year.
Goodman said it is too early in the budget process to determine exactly how much money Franklin would lose by switching programs.
The district might save money in fiscal 2012 because next year's state aid is determined using October 2010 enrollment, but Franklin would likely lose money in subsequent years, Goodman said.
"This analysis really shows, at least from my perspective, that over the long run financially it's a loser," School Committee member Ed Cafasso said. "The financial evidence is fairly overwhelming that one year of savings would be wiped out every other year."
Joel D'Errico proposed 10 single-bedroom apartments for the building in November, but told the Planning Board Monday he plans to build eight apartments instead. The new building would supplement an existing 10-apartment building.
The reduction may not appease many neighbors who said the building is still too large for the lot at the corner of Summer and Winter streets.
"It's inappropriate for the neighborhood," said Robert Landry, who has lived on Summer Street for 65 years. "There'd be too many cars. It's too big of a building, and it's not conforming with the neighborhood."
D'Errico said his development is a good fit since 21 of 31 residential lots in the area have multifamily buildings. One of those properties has 28 apartments, he said.
"The neighborhood character is 2-to-1 multifamily," he said. "It's changed. It's not what it was 50 years ago."