Six CPA projects heading to Town Meeting

The Community Preservation Committee advanced six projects to the May Annual Town Meeting, where residents will be asked to consider funding renovations to the Brook School and to provide lights on the field hockey turf, among others.

The six projects, approved by the CPC on Feb. 23, are seeking a total of roughly $1.82 million in Community Preservation Act (CPA) money, which is a 3% property tax surcharge for community preservation purposes supplemented with a state match. At least 10% of CPA money must be spent on community housing, historic resources or open space/recreational projects, and the remaining 70% must be reserved for any combination of the three project types.

Residents will consider the projects at the May 4 Annual Town Meeting. Weston currently has $7,371,235 available in its CPA account, according to Libby Lichter in the town manager’s office.

Dog park feasibility study

Residents Kim Rocco and Dawn Kurzon are leading an effort to explore the possibility of a designated off-leash dog park somewhere in Weston, and are seeking $18,000 to fund a feasibility study. The Recreation Commission has supported the study.

While there are myriad trails in Weston, Rocco said a dog park provides accessible “social experiences for the dogs and members of the town.”

“At this point, we are looking to see what is the best possible location,” Rocco said. “We are aware that there are currently a number of areas in town that are off-leash, but there’s not a designated off-leash dog park.”

If funding is approved at Town Meeting, Town Manager Leon Gaumond said his office will work with the Recreation Department to conduct the request for proposals process.

Town Green rehabilitation phase one

After completing their planting plan for the Town Green in late 2025, the Tree Advisory Group is now ready for phase one. To undertake the planting of 53 trees, about 40% of the design plan, the group is requesting $300,000, which will cover the plants, the cost of planting them, surveying and bidding documents for the project.

Carol Lee, the chair of the Tree Advisory Group, said the project’s goal is to preserve the Town Green’s ecological health, as well as its visual character and cultural value.

“The Town Green is the space where people walk, we gather, have celebrations,” she said at the group’s Feb. 2 presentation to the CPC. “What we’d like to do, mostly, is to replace trees that have died or are dying. A lot of trees we have aren’t appropriate for the changing climate or the space we’re in.”

Residents previously appropriated $40,000 at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting to create a planting plan for the Town Green, Knox Park and Lamson Park. This work, Lee emphasized, is a follow-up to that plan, and the Tree Advisory Group will likely come back to the town in the future for phase two.

Field 1 lights

Following a January presentation to the School Committee, momentum is rising in the community effort to bring lights to Field 1, the field hockey field and one of two turf fields at the Middle School and High School.

The group, led by Recreation Commission member Trevor MacDonald and the Weston Boosters, is requesting $400,000 in CPA money for the approximately $525,000 project. The remaining amount will be covered by private fundraising, and if donations exceed $125,000, the excess CPA money would be returned to the town.

While MacDonald was unable to attend the meeting, Recreation Director Chris Fitzgerald explained youth sports and the junior varsity teams often can’t play full games or host full practices because they run out of sunlight after school, particularly in the late fall. With the Middle School and High School campus project, which will likely eliminate several fields, looming on the horizon, future demand for Field 1 is likely to be high.

“We run out of daylight and we can’t squeeze in all the practices and games we want to do,” Fitzgerald said.

The School Committee has supported the plan, and fundraising efforts led by the Boosters and youth sports programs are expected to be strong, according to Fitzgerald.

If all goes to plan, MacDonald said it is possible the lights are ready for the fall season. Musco Lighting, which handled Proctor Field’s lights, will undertake the project.

“Trevor is certain he has $125,000 in private fundraising,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re just going to be asking for $400,000 from the CPC to carry out the balance and see it through.”

Burchard Park playground

Recreation Commission member Jessica Catlin has put forward a $50,000 request to fund design fees for a possible playground at Burchard Park.

The playground, she said, is an opportunity to expand recreation access for the north side of town. While the elementary schools have playgrounds, they are not open to the public during school hours, and Lamson Park is currently the only playground for children during the day.

“Burchard Park has become a sort of recreational destination, especially with youth baseball and softball families. There’s also the pickleball courts, tennis courts, there’s a basketball court there and the snack shack,” Catlin said, adding a new playground fits into the Recreation Master Plan’s goal of creating more recreational areas.

The playground would be located at the far end of the gravel parking lot at the park, and would require “minimal site work.” It would also require little maintenance, as the playground’s surface will be rubber, reducing the amount of money spent on wood chips.

There are two firms with proposals ready: Activitas for $45,000 and Weston & Sampson for $49,400. If design funds are approved in May, construction funding is expected to be requested in the fall. A “conservative estimate” has construction funding around $500,000.

Brook School Building A and Regional Housing Services Office

With the Weston Art & Innovation Center providing a home for Weston Media Center and the Historical Society moving into the Josiah Smith Tavern, the lower floor of Building A at the Brook School has long been vacant. The biggest CPA request of the year, for $1 million, is looking to change that.

Tom Timko, the chair of the Elderly Housing Committee, presented plans to renovate the lower floor of the building into two new accessible, affordable units, which he said is “keeping in the mission of the Brook School.” With a long waitlist of prospective tenants, the two new units will at least chip away at it, he said.

“We are continually looking to do anything we can to improve the situation,” Timko said, adding that this request is the “culmination of several visits to the CPC” to fund different aspects of the project.

“We are now looking for the final cycle of funding that is essentially the construction of the units,” he added. If approved at Town Meeting, construction is expected to begin this summer and tenants could potentially move in by next winter.

In a similar vein, the CPC also forwarded a $48,000 request from the Regional Housing Services Office to Town Meeting. Gaumond explained the office provides services for 10 communities, and it typically requests funding every year.

“The fact that we don’t have to have our own municipal employee dealing with housing issues saves the taxpayers money, and gets us great technical services when we need it the most,” he said, noting this year’s request is “slightly lower than last year.”