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16 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, January 14, 2022 PEOPLE PLACES&
Shrewsbury holds topping off ceremony for new police station
Topping off | from page 1 remains on schedule and on budget, despite challenges including the interruption of the supply chain and inflation.
Officials broke ground on the new station in September after Shrewsbury voters approved a $42 million debt exclusion to fund it.
The Planning Board approved plans for the new 31,125-square-foot facility over the summer.
“The result of all this work is what you see behind me — the bones of a modern, functional, comfortable police facility, which will include a brand-new town communication system and will meet the needs of Shrewsbury for the foreseeable future,” said Patrick Pitney, chair of the Police Station Building Committee, on Jan. 5.
In addition to the communications system, the new station will also feature a 9/11 memorial and community meeting spaces — the latter of which Polito called “terrific visioning.”
Samia said the steel frame was symbolic of the “strength and resolve” of everyone who made the project happen as well as the strength of both the Shrewsbury Police Department and its mission.
“Finally, the steel frame symbolizes the strength of our support for all members of the Shrewsbury Police Department who put their lives on the line on a daily basis to keep us safe and make our community a better place to live,” Samia said.
Work now continues at the police station site, with the old station expected to be demolished in February 2023, according to statements by the project’s architect to the Planning Board last year.
Crews lift and secure a beam in the new police station.
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Karyn Polito laughs with Police Station Building Committee Chair Patrick Pitney.
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2021 year in review: Southborough
By Dakota Antelman, Managing Editor Town Meeting approves downtown district bylaw
SOUTHBOROUGH - As we settle into 2022, the Community Advocate is wrapping up its look back at major stories that shaped 2021.
From COVID-19, to town meeting debates, 2021 has been an eventful year in local news. Read on for our recap of this year’s top Southborough stories…
School district considers absorbing Southborough Extended Day Program
School officials discussed the option to absorb the Southborough Extended Day Program (SEDP) as an in-house service over multiple public meetings last year. SEDP has a contract to provide extended day services to Southborough families. Though that contract was slated to end in August, the district extended it after rejecting all of the bids it received through a request for proposals process last year.
Superintendent Gregory Martineau subsequently recommended absorbing SEDP at a School Committee meeting on Dec. 10. But no action was taken at that time. The School Committee was scheduled to discuss this matter again this week after this edition of the Community Advocate went to press. Visit CommunityAdvocate. com for the latest… Voters approved a much-debated effort to create a new downtown district at Town Meeting this past fall.
The bylaw specifically added a number of permitted uses by-right including mixed-use developments, bakeries and offices and banks, among other things. Businesses such as microbreweries, exercise facilities and animal clinics are also permitted provided that they first receive a special permit from the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Proponents of the downtown district bylaw argued it would encourage investment in Southborough, updating an existing downtown zoning bylaw that was over 60 years old.
Debate continued both prior to Town Meeting and during Town Meeting itself, though, as community members discussed aspects of the bylaw, including a portion concerning multi-family dwellings and by-right floor area ratio, among other things.
The bylaw ultimately passed by a two-thirds majority.
Southborough navigates second year of COVID-19
Southborough moved through 2021 as COVID-19 continued to make its presence felt.
Southborough was part of a regional vaccination push throughout the year, helping drive down rates over the summer before the Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus prompted case rates to tick upwards in recent months.
While the current COVID-19 case surge is rattling government and organizations throughout all levels of society, the town has had moments of individual, local COVID-19 crisis, particularly when school officials noted a cluster of 23 cases over two weeks at the Neary Elementary School this past fall.
PHOTOS/LAURA HAYES
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