Monday, May 29th

Last night Town Meeting passed Article 1 of Special Town Meeting 1 with a vote of 216-22-10 to authorize the Select Board to petition the State to allow the construction of geothermal wells under Pierce School Playground.

That Article 97 Home Rule Petition will be sent by the Town and be received by Rep. Vitolo.  He will then work with groups at the State House to bring it to a vote in both Houses.  If approved, the final step needed will be to acquire the Governor’s signature.  This process will take place between now and July 31st.

Monday, May 20th

The second of two public forums (Meeting #2) to inform the community about the Pierce School Building Project is coming up.  The agenda will cover the project design, construction logistics, schedule, and Article 97 process.

Town Meeting will be taking up an article to authorize and empower the Select Board to petition the State for a special act to allow the construction of geothermal wells under Pierce School Playground, called “Special Town Meeting 1 (STM1), Article 1” on Tuesday, May 28th at the start of Town Meeting (~7:30p).  The State’s approval is required for this construction per Article 97.  The Warrant Article and reports can be found on the Town Meeting Files web page.  STM1 Article 1 requires a 2/3s vote by Town Meeting to pass.

Tuesday, April 2nd

The Conservation Commission, the Park and Recreation Commission, the Select Board, and the Building Commission have all voted unanimously to support geothermal wells under portions of Pierce School Playground, and the demo bid package budget!

Thank you all for your support of Pierce!

Thursday, March 28th
The Building Commission has posted their next meeting.  It will be held remotely on April 2nd at 8p.  At 8:20p there is a line item to “Vote to release early package Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) budget.”.

Wednesday, March 27th
The Select Board has posted the Pierce Playground Public Hearing.  There will be public comment at the beginning of the meeting if you would like to speak on Pierce overall, followed by a public hearing on using Pierce Park for geothermal wells to create a cost-efficient, fossil free Pierce.  Please let us know if you can make it by adding your name here. 

Friday, March 22nd
Save the Date! The Town will be announcing soon that there will be a public hearing on April 2nd to talk about the Pierce Building Project.  As soon as there are final details available we will post and link them here.  In the meantime please SAVE THE DATE FOR APRIL 2ND!  This meeting take place at Town Hall at 5:30pm.

Wednesday, March 20th
On Wednesday the Land Use, Zoning and Sustainability Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee voted 5-2 to recommend approving the use of Pierce Park for the new school’s geothermal heating and cooling system as described in Article 1 of the May Special Town Meeting.  Under Article 97, the land use must be approved by several town commissions, the Select Board, Town Meeting, and the state legislature because Pierce park is a town-owned park.

Tuesday, March 19th
The Select Board met and announced that there will be a joint public hearing between the Park & Recreation Commission, the Conservation Commission, and the Select Board to discuss the Pierce Building Project.  Following that meeting, both the Park & Recreation Commission and Conservation Commission will meet to vote on the Pierce Project.  Following those meetings, the Brookline Building Commission will meet to vote on the demolition bid package, which will allow for demolition to begin once Building Commissioner Dan Bennett’s Building Department issues a demo permit.

The demolition bid package came in $2M under budget on March 7th and will expire on April 6th.  Any project timeline slippage will cost the Town additional money, and put the $47M of MSBA funding that has been awarded by the state at risk.