Planning Board unanimously backs Town Center construction documents with conditions

WESTON — November 19, 2018 — Weston Planning Board votes unanimously to support Town Center construction documents, with conditions. The board gave conditional backing to the full construction drawing set for the Boston Post Road downtown reconstruction project at its November 19 meeting, following a nearly three-hour sheet-by-sheet review led by landscape architect Skip Burke of Richard Burke Associates. The project's cost estimate has risen to approximately $15 million after the town received only one valid bid — the second bidder arrived two minutes late and could not be accepted — with the accepted bid coming in about $1 million below estimate on utility undergrounding but roughly $2 million over on all other work. The Select Board was described as deciding within a week whether to bring the project to Town Meeting, pursue a February re-bid, or delay. Board conditions include a bicycle expert review of the plan, parking and shuttle-zone refinements, and a commitment to ongoing Planning Board participation through construction administration. A rail trail committee member attending the meeting urged the board to require substantially more bicycle parking, citing anticipated demand from potential 200 to 250 new housing units near the trail.