The town consultant, the Barrett Planning Group, admits in their report that the numbers being used by many to justify minimal impact on student enrollment in town are problematic:
"(a) The net number of new students and is misleading. As presented, it represents the difference between the existing students at Royal Crest and the estimated number in the Royal Crest Redevelopment, not the impact of the new construction. There must be a realistic assessment of where the existing students will actually go and what continuing presence they will have in the North Andover schools.
The report goes on to indicate that one of the three most likely possibilities is that Royal Crest families, not wanting to deal with ten years of relocation and construction, relocate to other homes in North Andover. A completely new population of students then moves into the new units at Royal Crest, greatly enlarging the estimated impact to enrollments. THIS IS A LIKELY scenario that the schools will be impacted.
If Town Meeting approves the facility master plan being proposed tonight, the schools will get ALL of the money they need for any existing projects.
If town officials feel there is a need to accelerate these plans, the new revenues from Princeton Properties development and the under-construction projects at Amazon, Avalon Phase 1, Avalon Phase 2, and Sutton Street (KofC) CAN AND SHOULD be used.