St. John’s Prep Expansion Plan Before Planning Board

The Danvers Planning Board will continue a public hearing on St. John’s Prep’s expansion proposal at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11 in the Daniel J. Toomey Hearing Room, Town Hall. 

The high school is looking to build a new 73,875 gross square foot Science, Technology, Engineering and Math academic building. The school is also looking to add a middle school (Grades 6-8), which will be located in the existing Brother Benjamin Hall.

St. John’s Prep hopes to start off the middle school in September 2015. The middle school is expected to mean about 300 students to the 1,150 high school student body.

The potential for more traffic in the Route 62 area concerns town officials.

The new middle school may require a traffic light and traffic improvements. St. John’s Prep has agreed to give Danvers $25,000 for traffic mitigation, but town officials say fixing the problem could cost $450,000. That fix could include a traffic light at Maple and Summer streets and improving intersections at Nichols and Summer streets and North and Summer streets, which would see more traffic, reported the Salem News.

Here’s the full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.