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The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) began voting on project applications at their January 7 meeting. While several projects were recommended for approval at Town Meeting, some of the larger projects appeared to be at risk of not making the cut.
The CPC voted in favor of:
- Regional Housing Services Office FY27 Membership Fee
- Remediation of Water Chestnuts in the Hop Brook Water System
- Art Installations along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
- Haskell Smile Playground
- Haskell Bathroom Renovation
- Housing Trust Allocation
The committee spent considerable time deliberating on the follow projects, but did not vote on:
- Accessible Connection to and Boardwalk on Mass Central Rail Trail
- Design – Broadacre/Featherland Park Improvement
- Design – Davis Field Improvement
- Parkinson Field Driveway and Parking Lot
With regard to the rail trail connections and Parkinson projects, the committee will host Marcia Rasmussen (from the Sudbury Planning and Community Development Department) to answer their questions at the next meeting. However, Rasmussen was simultaneously in a meeting with the Rail Trails Advisory Committee and informed that committee that Ti Sales, an abutting business property, was not interested in giving the Town an easement to allow for a exit driveway from the proposed Parkinson Field parking lot. They had concerns about safety, and Rusmussen noted that the project may not be able to go forward. There will be staff discussions sometime in the next week, and the CPC will likely get answers about the fate of this project at their next meeting.
The Broadacres and Davis Field projects were subjected to significant scrutiny by the CPC. Members questioned the prioritization of the projects and how they aligned with the recent Fields Needs Assessment. There were also questions about the capacity of the Park and Recreation Department, which currently has an interim director, and the backlog of projects that are not completed. That included the years-old Feeley Phase 2 project that still has not gone out to bid according to Chair Sherri Cline. She added that she had been informed that the Feeley project would not go out to bid until the fall of 2026, meaning any construction would happen in 2027. That raised further questions about the phasing of Park and Recreation projects.
There appeared to be more support among the CPC members for the Broadacres project, which would design the addition of 1-2 baseball fields to the property adjacent to Featherland park, creating something of a baseball hub for the town. Somewhat ironically, there was less enthusiasm for design of two rectangular fields at Davis Field, which was previously the site of a proposed baseball field hub that failed at the 2015 Annual Town Meeting.
The committee agreed to delay voting until they could get more information from the Park and Recreation commission.
