Town Hall Plans, DPW Building to Get Vote at Special Town Meeting

When voters head to Foxborough High School for the Special Town Meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday night, they will have their say on seven articles.

The biggest article is undoubtedly Article Three which would allow the town to pay for the softs costs for a new town hall.

If approved, the town would spend about $557,000 to pay for an architect and a project manager to create the blueprint for a new town hall located in the parking lot of the current building on South Street.

Unlike previous years, the article received the recommendation of the Advisory Committee.

In their recommendation, the committee said that the reduction of the building to 15,500 sq. ft., Town Manager Bill Keegan and the Permanent Building Committee taking ownership of the project, and the establishment of the town hall working group were factors in the recommendation.

The following articles are also up for a vote:

Article 1 - To transfer funds for an additional police officer to the appropriate town accounts. The comprehensive funding for this officer will be provided on an annual and ongoing basis by NPP (Patriot Place) per the agreement related to the Splitsville entertainment and liquor licenses.

Article 2 - The DPW’s proposal to move all water department staff and businesses from town hall and DPW staff from the highway garage to a new modular building to be constructed on DPW grounds. The building has been budgeted for $600,000.

Article 4 - The Board of Selectmen’s proposal to replace the current sign bylaws with an updated version. A major change from the existing bylaw is the addition of five pages of clear and understandable definitions. The proposed sign bylaw contains three separate sign districts: Sign District 1 consisting of the Route 1 corridor, Sign District 2 consisting of the majority of the town, and Sign District 3 corresponding to the center of Foxborough (within a 1,000 foot radius of the town center).

Article 5 - To amend section 11.1 of the zoning bylaws by deleting the existing definition of accessory apartment and inserting a new definition that is more descriptive of what an accessory apartment is and applies to all districts in town.

Article 6 - The Foxborough Center Overlay District has been established as an overlay district at the heart of the town to promote a walkable, mixed-use area that fulfills many of the community’s governmental, spiritual, service, residential, and social needs. The purpose of the article is to amend the zoning bylaw to include the Foxborough Center Overlay District in section 2.2 and 2.3.1 and add the plan of the FCOD map prepared by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council as Appendix C of the zoning bylaws.

Article 7 - The purpose of this article is to amend the definition of “height” in the zoning bylaws to better reflect the building code and present building practices.

To read the full warrant, click here.

To read the recommendations from the Advisory Committee, click here.