Tuesday night, the Canton Board of Finance is slated to discuss a proposal to bond for major road repairs and a new public works garage proposal at 325 Commerce Drive, the latter of which has drawn intense comment from "Griswold Farm" residents who live above the site.
Last week, the Board of Selectmen voted to forward a proposal for $6 million in road work and up to $5.9 million for a new garage facility. On Monday, the town received an estimate of $5.5 million from Borghesi Building and Engineering for a "Design, Build," scenario, which generally costs less by using one company to design and build a project, rather than a design, bid, build process that involves more developed plans and a separate bidding process.
On March 6, selectmen unanimously authorized Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner to enter into a purchase and sale agreement of up to $225,000 for 325 Commerce.
One week later, numerous Griswold Farms residents spoke strongly against the proposed site, arguing that it would negatively affect safety, the environment and home values. Selectmen, however, voted to move forward with the proposal, with many members saying it is the best current option and actually has much less neighborhood impact than many of the sites consdidered over the years.
If the finance board approves the proposals, they would head back to the Board of Selectmen, which would then set a date for a referendum.
The parcel is goverened by the town's Industrial Park District section of the town's regulations and the town would need to apply to apply the town's Municipal Community Facilities District guidelines to the site, as they would for any selected.
The Board of Finance meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. or immediately following an earlier budget meeting at 6 p.m. See the agenda here.
I also hope that they insist that if this does go to ballet that it is not bundled up with road repairs. These are 2 seperate issues and should be addressed and voted on as such. The desperately needed road repairs should not be used as a bargaining chip for other projects our selectmen want to push through.