After two pandemic years, Winchester Town Meeting members will meet in person next week to vote on some of the town's most important projects.

Annual Town Meeting, followed by a Special Town Meeting on the Waterfield Lot, will begin on Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m. in the Winchester High School Auditorium. 

There are 35 articles up for debate during Annual Town Meeting, and two articles on the table for Special Town Meeting. Here are five articles to pay attention to:

This article is the first of several that are related to the Lynch Elementary School Replacement Project, which is entering the schematic design phase in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

After considering several options including renovation and additions, the Educational Facilities Planning & Building Committee decided to construct an entirely new three-story replacement building adjacent to the existing Lynch School.

The new school would be built partially on a neighboring parcel of town-owned land called the Wellfield or Water Department property. Article 6 requests the transfer of the property to the School Department to move forward with building a new Lynch School.

This article asks Town Meeting to approve the appropriation of $200,000 from free cash for the construction of a multi-purpose sports court at the Mystic School Building, located at 263 Main St.

The existing basketball court is in bad shape, and Recreation Director Nick Cacciofi suggested replacing it with a multi-use sports court that could also accommodate other activities such as tennis, pickleball, hockey and volleyball. Cacciofi argued the court could bring in extra revenue for the department and provide additional space for childcare.

During 2021 fall Town Meeting, $25,000 was appropriated to engineer and design the court, and now $200,000 is requested to complete construction. Estimated annual revenue for the court is $100,000.

Article 26 and Article 27 both support the building of a new Lynch Elementary School, but are presented as separate articles. 

Article 26 requests $5.98 million for the design, construction and renovation of the Sanborn Carriage House, in order to relocate the Winchester Public School's administration and central offices there from the Parkhurst School. 

The carriage house, built in 1909, has already been gutted of historical elements inside and would be brought up to ADA compliancy with the renovation. Exterior historic elements would be preserved.

Once the administration offices are relocated, "swing space" at Parkhurst would be available for Lynch students to be moved off-site during construction of the new school. Moving all Lynch students off-site is ideal to avoid construction delays and distractions for students, and to save on cost.

However, this swing space is not enough to accommodate all Lynch students. That brings us to Article 27.

Following the passage of Article 26, Article 27 appropriates $169,750 to design the addition of eight modular classrooms and utilities at Parkhurst to accommodate the remainder of Lynch students moved off-site during construction of the new Lynch School.

Should Article 26 fail to pass, Article 27 would still be up for debate, but would instead add 16 modular classrooms and more site work to Parkhurst School to accommodate Lynch students during construction.

Despite the difference in project scope, the funding request is the same for both options because the fees for preparing the design and procurement packages are the same for either option.

Winchester's most controversial project is coming back for Town Meeting approval with some changes. 

Although a land disposition agreement with Civico was approved at 2021 Town Meeting, a citizens' petition called for a referendum vote on the proposal in June. Residents voted 49% in favor and 51% against.

The town then created a Waterfield Lot Task Force to review the proposal with public input. Public parking and a mix of affordable and market rate units were identified as priorities, although three of the five-member task force requested the town rebid the project. 

Developer Civico presented changes in February that include more parking and affordable units, but eliminated retail space, the Chamber of Commerce Building and the proposed gatehouse.

Civico presents new design for Waterfield Lot with more parking, less square footage

The updated proposal now includes 70 public parking spaces and 60 units, with 40 of those designated as affordable. Town Meeting members will be now be asked to approve the land disposition agreement with these changes.