Boxborough Fire Station Committee Backs Sarah's Way Access, Rejects $3 Million Route 111 Plan

Fire Station Building Committee · Meeting of June 25, 2026

Boxborough fire station committee shelves Route 111 access plan, citing costs up to $6 million. The Fire Station Building Committee voted unanimously June 25 to approve $67,936.41 in invoices — including a $56,145 payment to Context Architecture and $11,365.50 to owner's project manager Vertex — while reaching informal consensus to drop a proposed direct apparatus access onto Route 111 in favor of the existing Sarah's Way entrance at 984 Mass Ave. Architect Chris presented preliminary engineering estimates showing a direct Route 111 curb cut would require moving the building 120 feet back, excavating the site to roughly 346 feet elevation, and constructing berms and retaining walls at a base cost of approximately $3 million, with engineers warning the figure "could be double." Former Planning Board member Mark Barbadero, speaking as a resident of Old Harvard Road, called the Route 111 pursuit "a fool's errand," noting Sarah's Way already exceeds subdivision width standards and offers strong sight lines.

The committee also narrowed its building concepts to two options for further development: a one-story layout designated 1C — keeping all firefighter and administrative spaces on one secured side — and a two-story alternative, both oriented with the apparatus bay toward Sarah's Way. The fire station's target purchase closing date is July 17, and the committee is one week behind its design schedule heading toward a March 2027 deadline.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,000 words

Source: the Fire Station Building Committee meeting of June 25, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.