The Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, June 25 will have up to five warrant articles — two each on the Farrington/Panetta proposal and on the community center, and one on an expected citizens’ petition.
The meeting will start at 6:30pm; barring something unforeseen, officials expect to get everything done that night — in contrast to the Special Town Meeting on Dec. 2, 2023 to vote on the Housing Choice Act measures, which stretched to 11:30pm and led to the creation of the Town Meeting Study Committee.
One of the warrant articles may be passed over, depending on the construction bids for the community center, which will be opened on May 29. If the low bid is higher than the $24 million budget, the town will have to find more money for the project to go ahead — either through a funds transfer if the shortfall isn’t substantial, or a debt exclusion if more is needed. A debt exclusion measure would require a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting for approval as well as a simple majority at the ballot box at an election the next day.
There will be a hybrid joint meeting of the Select Board, Finance Committee, and Community Center Building Committee on Monday, June 2 starting at 6:00pm to discuss funding strategy if the bids come in over budget. The agenda has not yet been posted but the Zoom link is here.
Two other warrant articles pertain to the Farrington/Panetta proposal. The first will ask for two separate zoning changes: one to approve a cluster of 20 new starter homes and the other to allow Gerard’s farm stand and garden center to continue operating. The business is on land owned by the Frank Panetta Jr. Trust but operated by others. The second would allow a transfer of $950,000 already in the town’s Community Preservation Act fund to help purchase and then put a conservation restriction on the entire 77-acre parcel.
Assuming all goes as planned, the town will purchase three lots — two from the Frank Panetta Jr. Trust and one from the Paul Panetta Trust — as well as all 74 acres of the Farrington Memorial property to the east. Developer Civico will pay $3.3 million of the $6.4 million purchase price and build the single-family condominium homes. Another $800,000 from the City of Cambridge and $1.35 million in private donations to the RLF will round out the amount. Most of the Farrington property will become publicly accessible conservation land. Farrington Nature Linc would remain as is, though with a new access from Page Road.
Other warrant articles
A fourth warrant article will seek approval to increase the town’s fiscal 2026 reserve fund “to address a couple of late-occurring budget challenges,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins said at the May 19 Select Board meeting. Those preliminary additional costs include $270,000 for remediating contaminated soil at the former Strat’s Place playground, which will be repurposed for Magic Garden; $172,000 for snow and ice mitigation; and about $100,000 for veterans’ benefits
“These amounts are preliminary and we will have a better view of the potential recommendation on June 10,” Finance Committee chair Paul Blanchfield said. Voters OK’d an increase to the fund balance for FY26 to $849,000 in March. The reserve fund is part of the general fund and is intended to cover “extraordinary and unforeseen” needs of the town and schools.
The final Town Meeting article(s) will be a vote on at least one citizen’s petition. One has already been submitted and it’s at least possible there will be more, as the deadline for getting a petition with the required 10 signatures to the Town Clerk’s office isn’t until Tuesday, May 27 at noon.
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