Select Board Advances Fire Station Study, Defers Site

Select Board · Meeting of September 8, 2026

Wellesley Select Board presses pause on fire station siting, keeps process moving. Board members spent nearly two hours questioning the scoring matrix behind Context Architecture's recommendation to put a new $65 million to $73 million fire department headquarters on the town-owned North 40, but took no site vote, instead approving a Project Proposal Form to keep the project in the capital planning pipeline. Kenneth Largess said that after reshuffling the site-selection weightings repeatedly, "the response was exactly the same" every time.

Beth Sullivan Woods said she was "horrified" that fixing firefighter decontamination deficiencies could take seven years. The board also appointed Marco Gatti to the Municipal Light Board, approved a $13,000-a-year weights and measures contract with Norfolk County, and voted a 16-article warrant for the Nov. 9 special town meeting that would establish, but not fund, a capital stabilization account.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,994 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of September 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.