Three-hour discussion was often contentious and emotional 

By Theresa Knapp 

On March 20, more than 100 people gathered at 212 Prentice St., the community garden at Pinecrest, for an official site visit on land the Select Board is proposing as the site for a Department of Public Works building. 

What is a feasibility study? 

“The feasibility study is intended to gather as much information on the sites to make a recommendation and then, as you move forward and you get funding for the next phase of design, that’s when you go through the due diligence pieces…That’s normal in many communities where the feasibility study gets the ball rolling then you have to get additional funding in order to complete the sound studies, in order to complete traffic studies, those are additional funds that have to be appropriated.” Those funds would be appropriated by Town Meeting. 

-Weston & Sampson 

Engineering consultants

The site visit included government officials, the engineering firm Weston & Sampson who were contracted by the town to conduct a feasibility study, and residents concerned about the property chosen for the facility. 

The site visit was followed by a public forum meeting at Town Hall. That meeting lasted three hours and was often contentious and emotional. The conversation will continue at the Select Board’s meeting on April 14. 

 “The current facilities are significantly undersized.

They probably outgrew those facilities 30 years ago.”

                     -Weston & Sampson,

                       Engineering consultants

The Select Board and Weston & Sampson both fielded pointed questions from residents concerned about the choice of the Prentice Street location, the actual needs of the town with 100 miles of roadway, possible traffic and visibility, blasting and water contamination, safety concerns for students using the area as a shortcut to school, and the size and scope of the proposed 40,000-square-foot minimally-heated building that will also include the Water Department. 

Holliston Select Board Chair Tina Hein explained the board had considered 11 sites in town, including repurposing the departments’ current sites. She said that Weston & Sampson determined in 2022 that the Prentice Street site was the best fit because of access, flexibility of the site, and its central location. 

Dave Steeves of Weston & Sampson said, “The Prentice Street site is a 70-acre parcel and what we’re proposing is essentially 4.5 acres to this northern leg which would be really adjacent to the driving range for the golf course.” He said they would propose a generous buffer, sound attenuation walls, and would be fully fenced in. The parcel does not include conservation land. 

Steeves did say the foot and bike trails would have a crossing point from the access road to access the lower half of the site. He also said the proposed area of development would include the operational building, a salt shed, town-wide fueling station, and personnel parking. 

‘It’s not the ‘Garage Mahal’ that you might be imagining,” said Steeves. “It’s really been honed to be as efficient, as operationally-efficient, as we possibly can because we know that size is dollars. This facility is an investment for the town and it’s going to be a 50, 75, or longer-year facility evidenced by the fact that the facilities that you currently have were built back in the 40s and 50s so we know that this has to last into the future.”

Consultants from Weston & Sampson said, “The current facilities are significantly undersized. They probably outgrew those facilities 30 years ago.” 

The current buildings are 18,000-square-feet (DPW) and 10,000 (Water Dept.).  

Regarding the Cross Street location, Hein said the town is “probably 10 years out from having access to it and we don’t have that time…These are difficult decisions, I’m not going to pretend they’re easy to make and that we’re making the easiest one.” 

The engineers confirmed, “The Axton-Cross site is heavily contaminated, right next to wetlands, prone to flooding” and would take years to clean up. 

Hein said she is concerned with the current facility – and is focusing on modernizing a new facility with operational efficiencies, energy efficiency, addressing environmental concerns, and vehicle storage – but also with employee safety. 

“The safety of our employees is the number one priority; they’re working in buildings that have code violations and other safety concerns so that is my top priority over everything else that I’ve named,” Hein said. 

When town officials were asked for clarification about employees being “at risk,” Assistant Town Manager Kathleen Buckley, who is also the town’s Human Resources Director, said, “I think that it’s important that everybody understands that there is an urgency there. We are keeping employees safe but it is a risk for them to continue to be there because there are holes in the roof and there’s no heat and there’s one bathroom…What we don’t want is for the buildings to be shut down tomorrow and then we have no interim solution. So we are working very hard to make sure that we are still in compliance with employment law.” 

Residents are also concerned about losing this recreational land the town purchased in the 1980s after the community banned together to save it as open space. 

“I believe the people that voted then had a vision and I think the people that are here today have that same vision and they want to keep that property as open space,” said one resident to a round of applause. 

Resident Lucinda Coughlin gardens on the property. She says it’s a beautiful place and should be preserved. 

“Today I was there gardening: Hawks are going over, the birds are chirping, nine cars pulled up and walked in the woods just when I was weeding today,” said an admittedly emotional Coughlin. “It is a valuable resource to our town, and we can’t undo it. If you go further, you’re going to still see the old quarry, you’re going to see the old stone factory, that’s because we’ve already gone in there and ruined it once and it still hasn’t recovered from that…I just really ask you to think about that.” 

Residents asked town officials and engineers to reconsider locations would be a better fit including properties on Cross Street and Lowland Street, to consider renovating current properties, consider installing solar parking structures to protect its current fleet, and also asked if (and how) a conservation restriction could be placed on the property.  

The Select Board will continue its discussion at its April 14 meeting. 

A recording of the March 20 public forum can be found at bit.ly/HollistonSelectBoard03202025. Project materials can be found at https://bit.ly/HollistonNewDPWfacility.