Weston CPA Committee Clears Path for $2.5 Million Wellington Farm Purchase

WESTON -- February 11, 2019, Weston CPA Committee advances $2.5 million Wellington Farm acquisition after lead cleanup, weighs Josiah Smith Tavern cost surge. The Community Preservation Committee voted unanimously at its February 11 meeting to approve a $2,000 administrative fund request to complete environmental sign-off on Wellington Farm, a 13-acre Wellesley Street parcel long identified as a priority open-space acquisition. The full CPA request of $2,517,300, offset by roughly $877,700 held in a dedicated Massachusetts Water Resources Authority fund, is headed to a March 25 public hearing before spring town meeting. Permanent Building Committee Chair Jim Philando updated the committee on the Josiah Smith Tavern restoration, putting the total project estimate at $12.5 million to $13 million after raw construction costs of $9.75 million grew with soft costs and a 20 percent contingency; Philando cited structural decay, ledge removal, a major retaining wall, and constraints from a Historic New England deed restriction as primary cost drivers. Committee members debated bonding versus cash-funding Wellington Farm to preserve flexibility ahead of what could be the largest single CPA expenditure in Weston history.