South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School is raising the possibility of litigation against the Town of Hanover over building permit fees for its $276 million new vocational high school, escalating a dispute between the town and regional school district over one of the largest public construction projects on the South Shore.
In a Sept. 2 letter to Town Manager Joseph Colangelo and Select Board Chair Greg Satterwhite, attorney Amy Kwesell of KP Law, representing the South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School District, challenged an estimated building permit fee that she said estimated at approximately $2 million.
Kwesell wrote that no official fee has yet been determined, but said the district “respectfully disagrees” with the estimate and has already paid more than $300,000 in permitting fees associated with the project.
The letter asks Hanover to waive or substantially reduce the remaining fees, arguing that the town has both the authority and discretion to do so. It threatens potential litigation if an agreement is not reached.
Kwesell pointed to a Hanover Select Board policy stating that the board intends to waive building permit fees for construction of town buildings. Although South Shore Tech is a regional school district rather than a Hanover department, she argued that the new school serves a municipal purpose and should receive similar treatment.
The letter also argues that charging the full fee would ultimately shift the cost back to taxpayers in Hanover and the district's other member communities. Local building permits, inspection fees and similar charges are not eligible for reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, according to the letter.
Hanover's building permit rate of $15 per $1,000 of construction value, which was approved by voters at Town Meeting in 2025, does not appear unusual when compared with neighboring communities. Norwell, Scituate and Hanson have rates that are essentially comparable, while Marshfield charges $17 per $1,000.
Colangelo said town officials are reviewing the letter.
“The Select Board and I just recently received the letter from Attorney Kwesell and we are reviewing it with our attorney," he said. "I maintain positive relations with Superintendent Hickey and will continue to collaborate with him on any and all issues that impact his school and students and services we provide.”
Neither South Shore Regional Superintendent Thomas Hickey nor Kwesell returned calls for comment.
South Shore Technical High School is building a new vocational high school in Hanover to replace its aging and increasingly overcrowded campus on Webster Street.
According to the project website, the approximately 250,000-square-foot school will be constructed on the athletic fields behind the existing building and is designed to accommodate about 900 students. Plans include 14 career and technical programs, with new programs in plumbing and veterinary science alongside existing offerings such as electrical, carpentry, automotive technology, HVAC and metal fabrication.
School officials have said the project is needed because the existing building, now more than 60 years old, no longer adequately supports modern vocational education.
The district has identified aging mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, along with problems involving the roof and windows. Officials have also cited overcrowding and limitations on the district's ability to deliver and expand technical programs.
The project has an estimated total cost of approximately $276.4 million. The Massachusetts School Building Authority has approved up to about $109.6 million in state reimbursement, with the remaining cost funded by communities that make up the regional school district.
The existing school will remain in use while the new building is constructed.
The permit fee disagreement is not the first dispute between Hanover and the school district over construction of the new school.
In June, the Hanover Conservation Commission issued a cease-and-desist order and imposed a $25,000 fine after town officials said construction activity violated environmental protection requirements and damaged wetlands on the property.
The commission convened an emergency meeting after officials discovered what they described as significant violations of protections included in the project's approved plans. Satterwhite told South Shore Times at the time that approximately 20,000 square feet of wetlands appeared to have been destroyed. Conservation officials also said several delineated wetland areas had been trampled during construction.
Hanover said it planned to refer the violations to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The cease-and-desist order temporarily halted work associated with the violations, adding an earlier point of tension between the town responsible for enforcing local permitting and environmental rules and the regional district undertaking the project.
Work at the site has since resumed.