Weston CPC defers rail trail, elderly housing, and tavern votes to public hearing

WESTON — March 12, 2018 — Weston's Community Preservation Committee deferred action on three major funding requests Monday, sending a $437,000 rail trail access proposal, a $400,000 elderly housing design request, and a $200,000 Josiah Smith Tavern design completion request to a public hearing set for March 26. The rail trail request, covering parking, signage, and vegetative screening at two trailheads, drew scrutiny after its cost more than doubled from a $200,000 placeholder, with presenters citing detailed engineering estimates and a $40,000 Church Street intersection redesign as drivers. The elderly housing proposal — 14 units on the Brook School campus with rough construction costs of $4.5 million to $5.7 million — faced pushback from members who said the feasibility study was not yet final and that the project's timing was complicated by a potential Boston Properties senior housing development at 133 Wellesley Street and related Chapter 40B safe harbor calculations. Friends of the Josiah Smith Tavern president Adrienne Giske presented an all-in project estimate of $11.1 million, up sharply from the $4.6 million construction figure previously presented to town meeting, citing rampant construction cost escalation and $3 million in combined contingencies. The committee's own financial projections showed the CPC fund balance, currently approximately $8.6 million, declining sharply in fiscal years 2020 and 2021 if the tavern and 500 Wellesley Street projects proceed as planned. The sole formal vote was unanimous approval of a $2,500 preservation restriction for the Fisk Law Office.