Billerica Finance Committee unanimously backs recreation center at Vining School site

BILLERICA -- May 13, 2024, Billerica Finance Committee unanimously recommends new recreation center at former Vining School, backs Senior Center funding 9-1. The committee met May 13, the night before a Special Town Meeting, and cleared two major capital articles: Article 1, placing a new 22,000-square-foot recreation center at the Vining School site at an estimated cost of $20,037,576, and Article 2, funding a new one-story Council on Aging facility at the edge of the Cider Mill property at an estimated $20,653,345, a combined price tag of roughly $41 million. Acting Town Manager Clancy and Recreation Director David Neufeld told the committee that Left Field, the project's owner's project manager, had already overseen demolition of the Vining School and had $600,000 embedded in the budget as a buffer, giving the team a head start over any alternative site. The committee deadlocked 5-5 on a competing petitioner's article by Select Board member Michael Riley that would have placed the recreation center at Peggy Hannon-Rizza Park, where an Article 97 conservation land process would have required a two-thirds vote of the state legislature. A charter amendment article lowering referendum election thresholds to a simple majority passed 6-5 but fell short of a clear endorsement, with member Bill arguing it should wait for the town's scheduled 10-year charter review.