Weston fire station group approves $9,600 study to cut central station costs

WESTON — June 2, 2025 — Weston's Fire Station Working Group unanimously approved a $9,600 study to explore a lower-cost renovation of the Central Fire Station, as the newly expanded group pressed consultants to find ways to cut a $52.4 million combined project estimate. The vote came at the June 2 meeting, the first since Select Board Chair Lise Revers and member John MacDonald joined the working group as voting members; MacDonald said he is "not supportive of the $52.4 million cost" and wants to "dramatically reduce" it. Tecton Architects' Rebecca Hopkins told the group that a previously unmapped stream on the proposed South Station site on Wellesley Street has been reclassified from intermittent to perennial, triggering a 200-foot Massachusetts DEP riverfront protection zone and additional mitigation requirements. Hopkins cautioned that cutting the South Station's $38 million construction estimate to $20 million cannot be achieved through value engineering alone and would require a new design program. The town has $1.13 million remaining of $1.53 million appropriated for design work, and the approved $9,600 fee falls within that balance.