ATTLEBORO - Another street fight appears to be in the works after 13 years of peace between a tiny neighborhood and a private high school next door that's growing by leaps and bounds.
Bishop Feehan High School announced plans this week to open its parking lot off the currently dead-ended Harvard Street, which could potentially send hundreds of cars through the nine-house neighborhood to and from North Avenue every school day.
A similar plan in 2001 met stiff opposition from residents, who cited concerns about safety. And, the resistance is not likely to be any less this time around.
One resident, Tom Wood of 8 Harvard, had a one-word answer to the plan.
"No," he said when asked by a reporter. "I just can't see it. The road is narrow and there are kids and animals on it. It's not going to be a speedway."
Wood moved into his home in 2007 and doesn't recall the furor of 2001, but he said he's ready to take on the school.
Meanwhile, he's already got a couple of friends at City Hall.
Mayor Kevin Dumas is against the plan and is ready to fight it.
"I will seek any legal options available to the city regarding this matter," he said in an emailed statement to The Sun Chronicle.
And Walter Thibodeau, chairman of the city council's transportation and traffic committee, characterized the plan as "dead on arrival."
"I don't like it because of the history. I have my doubts about whether the neighbors will allow it and whether the city has any obligation to allow it," he said.
Meanwhile, Feehan attorney Edward Casey said the school has legal frontage on Harvard and an "absolute right" to access the street.
He said the access is needed to alleviate growing safety concerns and traffic congestion on Holcott Drive, where the school's main driveway is located, and North Main Street.
Currently, a school-owned gate blocks access to Harvard from its parking lot, but the school aims to open it starting in September.
A traffic consultant hired by Feehan recommended the move after developing several alternatives, Casey said.
"The plan that promises to best address the issues of pedestrian safety and traffic congestion both on and off the campus requires the opening of Harvard Street," he said in a letter to Dumas and City Council President Frank Cook.
Meanwhile, commuters on North Main often complain about traffic tie-ups stretching all the way to Toner Boulevard.
And residents on Holcott have a hard time getting out of their neighborhood during school opening and closing times.
Casey said one of the problems is the growing popularity of Feehan, which has seen a 41 percent increase in enrollment from 763 students in 1995 to 1,077 students in 2013.
In 2001, city officials lined up against the move, and both the residents and Feehan hired lawyers to argue their sides.
A number of meetings were held, but the uproar didn't die until Feehan backed down and closed the access to Harvard. It promised to keep the gate closed for two to three years.
Prior to that, it had been closed for 40 years.
Feehan recently sent letters to residents of Harvard Street and Holcott Drive asking them to meet with school officials about the plan.
The session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Mercy Hall on the Feehan campus.
