Community Corner

Medfield Building Committee Discusses 'Dale Street Campus' for Future Capital Projects

The concept of the Dale Street Campus would be to tie police and fire stations, Dale Street School and Parks and Recreation renovations together as part of the committee's "master plan."

The Medfield Permanent Building Committee discussed the possibility of creating a campus on Dale Street as the site of future capital projects as part of its “master plan.”

Medfield Permanent Building Committee member Timothy Bonfatti stressed the need to develop both capital and “master” plans for the town’s renovation and expansion projects of the police and fire stations, Dale Street School and Park and Recreation facilities at the committee's last meeting.

Bonfatti said it was necessary to develop these plans and “present them, along with existing debt schedules, future debt projections and a financing plan, including tax rate and fee impacts to the town.”

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The campus would be centered on the section of Dale Street, between North and Adams Streets, primarily because the police and fire expansion and renovation projects were already projected at this location, according to Bonfatti.

“[The campus] could become a magnet for the town, attracting new residents and addressing many of the capital needs of the town, in a joint development concept,” Bonfatti said.

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Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said the issue with the concept of a campus would be parking and abutting residential neighborhoods, but was intrigued by the idea.

“It is certainly an interesting sounding concept and needs to be explored,” Sullivan said. “[The committee] wants to come in and discuss those issues with the selectmen.”

Bonfatti agreed with Sullivan’s concerns and said extensive work would need to be done on such a proposal and the master plan is an important part of this work. There would also need to be extensive involvement from abutting neighborhoods, the selectmen, the Warrant Committee and the School Committee for a proposal of this nature to be successful.

Council on Aging chairman, Lou Fellini, said the proposal was a “rehash of what was done 10 years ago with Barry Colt’s committee” and said the problem at that time was too many projects were on the table at the same time.

“These projects, the town garage, police/fire stations and park and recreation building came up at the same time as the school renovations and were never done,” Fellini said.

Bonfatti says the campus plan could be viewed as a strategic master plan for financing future capital projects and could also work as a political problem solver to sell the town on the need for the capital projects.

The building committee decided it was necessary to meet with Medfield Police Chief Robert Meaney Jr., Medfield Fire Chief William Kingsbury, Superintendent of Schools Bob Maguire and the parks and recreation commission to explore the concept of developing a master plan for various departmental plans, focused on the concept of a Dale Street campus.

A meeting has been scheduled for Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall to discuss this further.


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