Weston Fire Station Group Orders Test Fit of South Avenue Site

WESTON — June 30, 2025 — Weston's Fire Station Working Group directed architects to re-examine the existing South Avenue station site as a lower-cost alternative to its $52 million Wellesley Street proposal. Working group member John McDonald argued the South Avenue parcel could accommodate a reduced-program station at meaningful savings, prompting Co-Chairs Tom Palmer and Jim Polando, along with Bharath Venkataraman, to push back, noting prior site analysis had ruled it out due to phasing and topographic constraints. Tecton architect Rebecca Hopkins and Vertex OPM Jeff D'Amico said a high-level test fit was feasible but flagged setback, frontage, and three-story stacking concerns. Select Board member Lise Revers said she was "not super excited about building a fire station in a wetland zone" and called the overall cost unacceptable given simultaneous school construction, water tower, and other capital demands. Tecton was directed to deliver two test fit scenarios — full program and reduced training room — for both the South Avenue and Wellesley Street sites before the July 21 meeting. The prior feasibility study estimated rebuilding both existing stations at $55 million to $60 million; the current proposal brought that to roughly $52 million through a superstation consolidation approach, with value engineering work identifying only about $3 million in non-overlapping potential savings from the items ranked acceptable by the group.