Woburn Considers $89.6 Million 5-Year Capital Projects Plan

WOBURN, MA — A new capital improvement plan from Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin shares an outline for close to $90 million in various projects ranging from a new skate park to Water Treatment Plant upgrades in Woburn over the next five years.

Filed on Thursday, the plan will go before the City Council for discussion next week.

“I am pleased to submit the 5 Year Capital Improvement Plan to the City Council, which provides important measured investments in our buildings, equipment, infrastructure, sustainability and community,” Galvin said in a summary letter to the City Council.

The plan represents a total cost of roughly $89.6 million. Of that, the city is eyeing $33.7 million in state and grant funding alongside a total of roughly $32.4 million in new water and sewer debt. The city would chip in $12.6 million in “pay as you go” appropriations over the next five years, under the plan.

The plan then calls for extra $2.09 million in funding from Woburn’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation.

In all, the plan lists dozens of individual projects and expenses beginning with the 2023 fiscal year and running through the 2027 fiscal year.

The largest of those is a $20 million cost for the design and construction of upgrades at Woburn’s Water Treatment Plant. These will be aimed at removing dangerous PFAS chemicals from city water.

Designs for that project will be complete in April of next year, Galvin said, with construction wrapping in December of 2024.

The city is looking at other water and sewer upgrades outside of the Water Treatment Plant alongside just under $11.4 million in anticipated street paving and intersection projects.

The capital improvement plan includes money over the next five years for new hybrid police cruisers, firearms and advanced communications software.

The Woburn Fire Department, meanwhile, is in line to get a new ladder truck and turnout gear alongside a new ambulance.

Other items in the capital improvement plan include a series of projects aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change and improving climate resiliency in the Shaker Glen, Horn Pond Brook and Hurld Park areas of Woburn.

The plan details funding from multiple sources for a splash park and bathroom upgrades at Woburn's Green Street pool facility. Money also support playground upgrades at Ferullo Field and improvements to the city's exciting Woburn Center pocket park under the plan.

The plan lays out funding for recreation projects, including resurfacing at the Green Street basketball courts. The city is also eyeing resurfacing and lighting improvement at its Leland Park street hockey rink.

The capital improvement plan further marks money to begin the planning process for a skate park.

The capital improvement plan details funding for Woburn school technology upgrades, new softball dugouts and turf field replacement at Woburn Memorial High School. Eventual spending will likely change, though, as the plan notes a still ongoing process to study capital needs within Woburn schools.

The City Council is scheduled to meet on Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers to discuss Galvin’s capital improvement plan.

While the entire plan will be a topic of discussion, Galvin is more urgently seeking a $4.2 million appropriation for certain elements of the plan scheduled to take place in the 2023 fiscal year.

Read Galvin’s full summary of the plan.

And view the capital improvement plan itself.