Boxborough Select Board Pulls Fire Station Land Article, Authorizes Annual Town Meeting Warrant

BOXBOROUGH -- March 25, 2024, Boxborough Select Board unanimously authorizes Annual Town Meeting warrant after pulling fire station land acquisition article and debating override warning language. The board voted 4-0 on all five formal actions at the March 25 session, removing Article 42, fire department land acquisition, after Town Administrator Michael Gowing reported that representatives of the Housing Board, Housing Trust, and Select Board had agreed on a $1.2 million transfer price for 7072 Stowe Road, with the actual financing article deferred to the Fall Town Meeting. A $500,000 professional services article for the new fire station (Article 25) was moved out of the capital consent agenda for standalone Town Meeting discussion after Chair Kristen Hilberg argued draft language tied the project prematurely to Stowe Road. The board also voted 4-0 to recommend the town operating budget under Article 5, while delegating board member Wesley Fossils and Hilberg to revise Select Board recommendation language that had described a future Proposition 2 1/2 override as "not just inevitable but necessary", with the board instead planning to move that warning to a front-of-warrant letter to residents.