Westborough Bid To Buy Bay State Commons Building Set For Town Meeting

WESTBOROUGH, MA — Westborough will convene a special Town Meeting in October with 15 articles on the warrant, including the town's bid to by the Boston Sports Clubs building at Bay State Commons.

The select board revealed the plan for the building purchase earlier this month. The town needs Town Meeting approval with a two-thirds vote or better to borrow the nearly $9 million to buy the 12 Union St. building, with plans to turn it into a new recreation and senior center.

There's a separate article on the Town Meeting warrant to use existing town funds for costs related to the purchase, chiefly a public engagement process to solicit ideas for how to use the new community center space.

Here are some other notable articles on the warrant:

Settlement funds

Two separate articles deal with the use of settlement funds. The town received $950,000 from a lawsuit against a retirement community that disobeyed affordability requirements under the zoning law. A vote would send the settlement proceeds to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The town has also received nearly $39,000 from a state settlement related to a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. The town wants to use the settlement for local programs to prevent overdoses.

Lake Chauncy

The town wants to study how nearby runoff might be harming the lake and causing things like algae blooms. The $27,500 expense would also pay for a management plan to prevent runoff from further harming the lake.

Radios

The police and fire departments want about $100,000 to buy back-up radios and batteries. The town has run out of spare radios due to new hires in both departments.

PFAS zoning

Town Meeting has to approve new zoning requirements for an Oak Street facility that will one day treat for PFAS contamination. The new zoning rules would govern dimensional requirements — things like how far a building must be set back from the road, building height, etc.

PFAS plant funding

More importantly, Town Meeting will vote to amend a March appropriation of $6.4 million to a higher amount to actually build the PFAS treatment plant. The total cost of the new plant has increased since March, mainly because the state Department of Environmental Quality found changes for Westborough to make to plans for the facility.