Weston CPC recommends $2.5 million Wellington Farm acquisition for Town Meeting

WESTON -- March 25, 2019, Weston's Community Preservation Committee voted 6-0 to recommend a $2,517,300 warrant article to acquire Wellington Farm, a 13-acre National Register property at 500 Wellesley Street that has sat atop the town's conservation priority list for two decades. Owner Nick Danforth agreed to a negotiated price of $3,375,000, $125,000 below the $3.5 million appraised value, and is donating a historic preservation restriction on the farmhouse facades; the CPC request nets down to $2,517,300 after applying $877,700 from a prior MWRA settlement. The committee also voted 6-1 to support a $359,200 Case Estates Walkway construction application presented by Jay Doyle of the Traffic and Sidewalk Committee, covering a hard-bid $250,000 stone-dust trail through the Case Estates plus design fees, with an Ash Street sidewalk segment pulled for redesign after drainage requirements added cost. A presenter noted that pavement unit prices have surged from roughly $60 per ton to $150. The committee unanimously approved a $10,000 administrative top-up for the Recreation Master Plan and cleared the annual CPA bucket allocation, with the fund projecting a $10.4 million balance at June 30, 2020.