Capital projects highlight Town Meeting warrant
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Northborough - With the town's budget belt seemingly already tightened two notches beyond comfortable, Northborough residents will be asked to vote on numerous large capital projects at Town Meeting, Monday April 28. At its meeting Feb. 25, the Board of Selectmen reviewed the draft warrant for Town Meeting.

Topping the list of capital projects is an article asking voters to give the town permission to borrow nearly $12 million to renovate Lincoln Street School.

In addition to this article, there are two smaller articles also on the warrant relating to the 40-year-old Lincoln Street School, one for $925,000 to repair or replace the roof, another for $40,000 to replace floor tile at the school.

"The School Department is currently in discussions with the state regarding the possibility of the state paying for all or part of the renovations," Town Administrator Barry Brenner explained. "If that is to happen, the article for the total amount of the renovations could be reduced based on the state's contribution, and the other two would be eliminated.

"Either way, all three shouldn't be on the final version of the warrant," Brenner said. "If they are, residents will be asked to pass over either the largest of the three or the two smaller ones, depending on what the state's contribution to the project ends up being."

Also on the warrant will be an article for the cost of the construction of the new Senior Center. The total cost wasn't listed on the draft warrant, but estimates have the cost at around $6 million. Assistant Town Administrator John Coderre said the town should have construction bids in and opened by the time of Town Meeting, so residents will know the exact dollar amount they are approving.

Related to the article regarding the building of a new Senior Center is the article requesting permission to borrow up to $1.5 million to clean up land on the site , at 119 Bearfoot Road.

The address had been listed as 119 Colburn St. for the entire time the project has been discussed, but was changed recently when the proposed entrance driveway to the center was moved during the architectural design of the building and site.

Regardless of its street address, the site needs to be cleaned up to remove portions of the parcel that were contaminated with arsenic and lead when the site housed a rifle range and skeet-shooting area as part of a rod and gun club that operated there.

Coderre has stressed repeatedly that the part of the property to be used for the new Senior Center and the contaminated part are not the same, and not even close to one another.

Also on the warrant is an article seeking permission to use $500,000 from the town's water fund for construction and improvement of the town's wells on Brigham Street. Brenner said the repairs will pay for themselves in time in the form of reduced water costs.

"The return on investment will be in the ability to use our own water rather than having to purchase it from the MWRA [Massachusetts Water Resources Authority]," Brenner said.