The Board of Selectmen meeting of April 12 highlighted new restaurants, a new Regional Vaccination Clinic and some grants.
- Two new restaurants are coming to town. The Neighborhood Tavern at 318 Main Street (formerly Tavern in the Square) and Fattoush Grill & Bakery at 10 Blake Street (formerly Mama’s Pizza).
- Health Agent Kristin Black announced the opening of the Regional COVID-19 Vaccination Site located at the Doubletree Hotel located at 5400 Computer Drive, Westborough. The site opens Wednesday, April 14 with an allotment of 1,500 doses of Moderna.
- All residents are reminded to sign up online on the State Preregistration System. This site involves seven communities. A limited number of appointments will be released each week for Northborough residents only if you register online at Northborough Residents Dedicated Regional Vaccination Site Appointments. If you have questions or concerns regarding the vaccine rollout or Covid-19, please contact the Northborough Health Department at 508-393-5009. If you already have an appointment at another location, Black suggests you keep it since the allocation of vaccinations is small.
- The Town awaits to hear from the state about its application for the Public Health Excellence Grant Program for Shared Services. It would help Boards of Health in four towns – Northborough, Southborough, Boylston and Westborough – to share services and be more efficient. This could include sharing nursing services and inspection services. The outcome of the grant should be announced later this week.
- Department of Public Works Director Scott Charpentier announced that Northborough received the Shared Winter Streets and Spaces Grant, around $60,000. Funds will purchase solar-powered pedestrian activated rapid flashing crosswalk lights, appropriate signage and compliant wheelchair ramps. The four locations to receive these items are South Street at Davis Avenue, South Street at Longfellow Road, South Street at Gale Street and East Main Street between Memorial Fields and Casey Field. Bicycle racks will also be installed at Ellsworth-McAfee Park, Casey Field and Memorial Field.
- Charpentier also updated residents on measures being taken for traffic safety on Bartlett Street. Mitigation funding from Amazon is still in process, but once received will help with creating bike lanes, rapid flashing beacons at the the crosswalks by the high school and a post occupancy study.
- The controversial ZBA recommendations were discussed at great length. Selectmen Julianne Hirsh questioned the interview process. There is no scoring scale, as questions are for informational purposes. Chair Jason Perreault who was on the interviewing subcommittee stated that a determination to retain the incumbents in their current seats was already made when discussing the applicants for the alternate seat. The resident petitions asking for more balance on the board between long time members and new appointments was said to be signed by a small percentage of residents, mostly concentrated in areas that have had contentious issues relating to land use. In the end, the appointments were approved as follows: Incumbent voting seats went to Mark Rutan: 3-1 vote and Fran Bakstran: 3-1 vote (Hirsh with the dissenting vote); and the alternate seat to Suzanne Cielica: 4-0.
- The Town has not yet closed on the property for the new fire station as the seller has more significant clean up to remediate the site.
The full meeting can be viewed on Northborough Remote Meetings on YouTube.