Sudbury Town Meeting: New Selectmen Name, Community Center Delay

SUDBURY, MA — A special Town Meeting held last Thursday in Sudbury decided three important issues before the town. The most controversial — a proposal to build a $27.7 million community center — was put on hold.

The first article before Town Meeting was the creation of a Stone Tavern Farm historic district. The article failed to pass, but would've protected the 3-acre Stone Farm Tavern property and buildings along the Boston Post Road.

The second article at Town Meeting was a proposal to change the phrase "Board of Selectmen" to the gender neutral "Select Board." That item passed. The Board of Selectmen previously voted to endorse the change.

"The term Board of Selectmen goes back hundreds of years and was coined in an age when women were not allowed to vote, let alone run for public office. In fact, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America. The time has come to update this language," the meeting article read.

Finally, meeting members voted to postpone a decision on whether to borrow $27.7 million to build a new 42,575 square-foot Sudbury community center, which would include a senior center, parks and recreation facilities, school administrative offices, plus an attached 14,000 square-foot aquatics center.

The building would replace the community center at 40 Fairbank Road near Haskell Field. The facility would cost the owner a $500,000 home about $181 per year, according to estimates. The Board of Selectmen may forward its own proposal for a new community center as an article for the May regular Town Meeting.