Some issues from years past resolved during 2012
Among the stories The Banner covered this year were three that were carry-overs from years past. Here’s a look back on how they were resolved:
Wal-Mart
In October 2011, Wal-Mart Corp. unofficially alerted West Boylston through communication with Town Administrator Leon Gaumond Jr. that its store at 137 West Boylston St. would be razed, along with several of the smaller stores on the property, to make way for a new store.
While preliminary plans called for a store of roughly the same 130,000-square-foot size, the new store was expected to have a pharmacy, a grocery department, expanded frozen foods and dairy, meat and produce.
However, in July, Wal-Mart announced those plans, along with renovations at other of the company’s Massachusetts stores, were canceled. In an email to The Banner, Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations Christopher Buchanan stated the current store at 137 West Boylston St. will remain open. He also did not rule out future renovations.
Solar farm
What started as a discussion about a solar farm on Century Drive, in West Boylston, turned into a long-term lease for Paul X. Tivnan Drive.
Town meeting in October allowed West Boylston selectmen to enter negotiations with Borrego Solar Inc. for 20 acres of the former county land purchased by the town in 2002.
If negotiations are successful, the deal will leave about 14 usable acres, some of which must be used for municipal purposes under the purchase agreement with the state.
Based on the proposal brought to town meeting, the property is expected to be leased for $100,000 per year. The company will also agree to a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and will sell power to the Light Plant at competitive rates.
The town meeting vote ended a years-long attempt by boards of selectmen to find some money-generating use for the land.
In 2006, a private firm approached the town about the potential for a transfer station on the land. A request for proposal (RFP) tailored to that purpose was released and one company, Bay Colony Recovery LLC, responded.
In 2007, town meeting approved allowing selectmen to negotiate after a presentation that promised, among other things, to build a public works garage, to offer free trash disposal and appliance recycling, local preferential hiring and grading a portion of the remaining parcel for use as a park or ball field.
In May 2008, selectmen abruptly terminated negotiations, offering little information, other than to say Bay Colony had become a "unresponsive bidder." Later, it was said the company could not prove its corporate structure, so it did not meet the requirements of the RFP. The company could also not prove its ability to meet the promises it made to voters at town meeting.
The town issued another RFP, seeking another transfer station for the property. The December deadline passed with no response.
In 2009, selectmen issued a more open RFP, seeking “any suitable use.” Again, it received no response.
Sept. 11 monument
2012 also saw the completion and dedication of the 9-11 monument that sits outside the Boylston Town House.
A piece of steel from the World Trade Center was added to the existing Red Knights Motorcycle Club memorial that sits on the site in recognition of the club’s founding in Boylston in 1982.
The club that was founded by firefighters and motorcycle enthusiasts from Boylston, Northboro and Westboro is now an international firefighter’s organization. That helped the club become one of the few private entities to receive World Trade Center steel — which is still considered evidence in a criminal investigation — for its memorial.
The steel was actually delivered to Boylston in the fall of 2011, in an emotional day for many of the firefighters from around New England who either arrived in Boylston for the delivery, or escorted the metal on its ride from New York.
Though on site, it still needed to be fit into an existing memorial. Design work was done over the winter, and the monument was officially dedicated in June 2012.