Weston Select Board advances $4.5 million fire station design fund request

WESTON — October 10, 2023 — Weston Select Board tentatively backs $4.5 million fire station design request for fall town meeting. The board heard a full conceptual design presentation from Tecton Architects project manager Rebecca Hopkins, who put the combined opinion of total probable project cost for rebuilding both Center Station and South Station at $55.2 million to $58.4 million — what members called the largest capital project in the town's recent memory. Board member Tom Palmer said he had "a little bit of sticker shock," noting escalated costs reach the mid-$900-per-square-foot range, and pressed for a debt-schedule model showing how fire station bonding would stack against the town's pending water-tank project and anticipated school capital needs. Chair Lori Bent flagged the "compressed" one-month window before the November town meeting. Board member Chris Houston argued delay would only raise costs further and that the police station design-fund precedent showed the timeline was workable; two of three members indicated support for placing the $4.5 million design article on the fall warrant, contingent on Finance Director Susan Kelly producing a combined drawdown timeline.