Weston Select Board Backs Design-Only Water Tank Article for Annual Town Meeting

WESTON — March 28, 2023 — Weston Select Board scales back water tank warrant article to design funds only, approves $92.9 million budget. At the March 28 meeting, the three-member board — with one member repeatedly unable to unmute — agreed to bring only design-and-engineering costs, estimated at roughly $3 million, to annual town meeting rather than a combined design-and-construction appropriation, after Town Manager Leon Goman said engineers confirmed the phased approach would not delay the project. The board also pulled a companion zoning bylaw amendment on water tank height limits, judging it premature before a siting decision is reached. The FY2024 operating budget of approximately $92.9 million, a 2.6 percent increase over the current year, was approved unanimously along with a consent agenda covering items including a $2.37 million OPEB appropriation, roughly $467,000 in Chapter 90 road funds, and a free cash capital package of just under $1.8 million. The board separately authorized Land's Sake farm to remove two trees — a Norway maple and a spruce — in exchange for planting four replacements, clearing the way for a planned all-electric farm stand targeting a May groundbreaking.