Town Meeting backs Fire Station 1 rebuild by wide margin

Westwood's Special Town Meeting on Oct. 26 approved Article 1, authorizing funding for a replacement Fire Station 1, the town announced. The article passed with 89.5% support among 670 voters, exceeding the required two-thirds majority.

The vote is a step toward replacing the existing Fire Station 1 at 637 High Street, which was built in 1948 and has operational, health and safety deficiencies, according to the town. The approval follows two unsuccessful votes in 2025 on an earlier version of the project. Since then, the town formed a resident-led Fire Station 1 Steering Committee, evaluated alternative sites, revised the building's size, and gathered community input.

The revised plan calls for a new station on the former Deerfield School property. At about 29,300 square feet, the building would be roughly 20% smaller than the earlier design. The total project cost is $39.98 million. The town's financing plan includes $5.18 million in available funds, leaving $34.8 million to be financed through a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion.

"Over the past year, countless residents have contributed their time, questions and insight to this critical project," Select Board Chair Marianne LeBlanc Cummings said during the Town Meeting. "Those conversations have made this a better project and have made us a stronger community."

The Town Meeting vote does not by itself approve the project. Massachusetts law requires both a two-thirds Town Meeting vote and a majority vote at an election. The debt exclusion question will appear as Question 10 on the Nov. 3 state election ballot. If that question fails, the town says the project cannot proceed.

If voters approve the debt exclusion, the town expects to move into the next phase of design after the election, with construction beginning in late 2027 and completion in 2029.

Residents can review the proposed design, financing plan and tax impact estimates on the town's Fire Station 1 project website.

Source: Town of Westwood announcement, October 28, 2026.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the original announcement.