Weston Finance Committee backs housing articles, defers $5 million fire station design vote

WESTON -- February 12, 2026, Weston Finance Committee unanimously backs $1 million Brook School senior housing expansion, defers fire station design vote. The nine-member panel, chaired by Bharath Venkataraman, voted unanimously at its February 12 Zoom meeting to support a $1 million Community Preservation Committee-funded request to convert unused basement space in Brook School Building A into two additional senior affordable housing units, with occupancy projected for late 2027. Members also unanimously approved a $160,000 housing repair grant program for qualified affordable housing owners and backed five routine warrant articles covering Chapter 90 road funds, water main rehabilitation, and the Brook School enterprise budget, drawing from the town's $11 million free cash balance. A 6-1 vote supported an $18,000 feasibility study for Weston's first off-leash dog park, with Venkataraman dissenting. The evening's sharpest exchange came over a roughly $5 million fire station design request, the first phase of a $40 to $50 million project, which members Zachary Sadek and Matthew Seltzer declined to support until Town Manager Leon Gaumond produces a concrete financing plan, with Sadek warning that approving spending "before we know how we're paying for it just feels upside down."