Harvard voters will be called to a Special Town Meeting this fall to approve three midyear capital spending requests and the sale of town land adjacent to Hildreth House.
Plans for a fall meeting have been in the works since the start of the 2018 fiscal year, but Tuesday evening the five-member Board of Selectmen made it official in a unanimous vote. Voters will gather in the Bromfield School’s Cronin Auditorium Monday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m.
The meeting is required to gain voter approval for selling 3.17 acres of land adjacent to Hildreth House and the town center fire station to a developer for the building of 17 senior-appropriate units on the property. The proceeds of the sale have been seen as a way to help pay for expanding the town’s Hildreth House senior center, while the new units would provide housing for seniors who wish to downsize and remain in town. The town issued a request for proposals for the project in late August and expects to have a sale price in time for the Town Meeting vote. Town Meeting will have the final say in whether the land is sold at all.
In addition to approving a sale of land, Town Meeting attendees will be asked to approve three capital spending requests. The Conservation Commission has asked for $200,000 to hold in reserve for future land purchases. Details of the commission’s long-term land acquisition strategy were likely to have been presented and discussed at Wednesday’s all-boards meeting, too late for this issue of the Press.
A second capital request, this one from the Old Library Accessibility Committee, will ask for money to restore the front entrance of the old library building and to make it wheelchair accessible. The final amount is yet to be determined, but committee Chairman Mark Mikitarian told the selectmen Tuesday night that the most current estimate is $439,000. He said the committee will apply for a Massachusetts Americans with Disabilities Act grant and possibly Community Preservation Act dollars to lower the cost to taxpayers. But the total cost could rise by as much as $130,000 if the state does not grant all of the committee’s requested variances from current accessibility codes that would normally apply to the building’s interior. At their meeting Tuesday, the selectmen unanimously endorsed the request and sent it on to the Capital Planning and Investment Committee for review.
The third capital request comes from DPW Director Tim Kilhart, who wants $35,000 to install a vehicle lift in the DPW garage so his crew can do routine maintenance on town vehicles. The request has the support of Fire Chief Rick Sicard and Police Chief Ed Denmark.
Still time to add articles
The three capital requests are being evaluated by Capital Planning and Investment Committee. That committee will make its recommendations to the Finance Committee later this month, which in turn will make its recommendation prior to the Special Town Meeting.
There is still time for boards to submit articles for consideration in November and for citizens to petition for the inclusion of additional measures in the meeting warrant. Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press that articles will be due at Town Hall by Oct. 12 so that the selectmen can sign the warrant at their Oct. 17 meeting. Citizen petitions are also due then, but, said Bragan, petitioners need to allow time for signatures to be certified by Town Clerk Marlene Kenney.
