Land Buy Gets No Vote, Needham HS Renovation Approved By Town Meeting

NEEDHAM, MA — Public safety and Needham High School were the main focuses of Monday night's Special Town Meeting at Town Hall.

Town Meeting members opted to pass the majority of the articles by unanimous consent, which amended the town budget and granted easements, by unanimous consent. Four articles related to the public safety building project and the proposed Needham High School renovation were brought to the floor to discussion.

With town meeting members concerned about the price and the parking, Article 7 was referred for further study. If approved, the article would have authorized the selectmen to buy 43 Lincoln St. for $1.495 million for the public safety project.

Selectman Matthew Borrelli said the land was needed to make the project safe and avoid the loss of 33 parking spaces to the public safety building. The finance committee, however, did not support adoption due to the price.

“While we agree that Lincoln st is a nice parcel to own, in our view, it is not a necessary parcel, all the planning to date has been done without Lincoln Street. The project can be built safely without this property,” John Connolly of the finance committee said.

Article 8, which changes the zoning of the fire station to the center business district, was approved. As was an amended Article 9, which does changes the zoning requirements for a public safety building in a general residential district, and is aimed at the renovation of fire station #2 on Highland and Webster street.

The town will move forward with the funding of designs for the renovation of the public safety building and fire station 2 following the approval of Article 10. The town will spend about $3.57 on the plans for both projects.

"The public safety buildings that we have...have served the town well and we've gotten a lot out of them and we have renovated them both about 25 years ago but we’re at the end of both the operational life and ability to provide the service necessary for the community," Selectman Daniel Matthews said.

At the public safety building, plans call for several items including larger bays for fire trucks, more administrative offices, and an increase in storage space for the archives.

In addition to the renovation of the public safety building, fire station 2 will receive a facelift. Matthews said the station was originally a substation but now needs to be a full station due to its location near a large commercial and industrial area.

The vote puts the town in position to consider building the project, pegged at $65 million and would be the most expensive in town history. A debt exclusion will be required to pay for the project.

Additional space will be created and some space will be renovated at Needham High School with the passage of Article 11. The renovation calls for 10 new classrooms, a three-story addition on the Webster Street side, the renovation of six classrooms for special education, the renovation of gym "A," and a new chiller. The total cost is $14.26 million, about 7 percent more than anticipated.

The classroom expansion and renovations will cost about $11.9 million, the chiller replacement is pegged at $801,000, and the gym "A" renovation is projected to be $1.468 million.

A motion to change the funding source from overlay surplus to the capital facility fund was approved with the understanding that the capital facility fund would be replenished with free cash at the Annual Town Meeting in the spring.

The renovation is scheduled to be finished by the fall 2018.

Attendance was 204 members.

Image: File Photo