Milton Town Hall · Fire Station Building Committee Meeting Transcript
Atherton St Fire Station Keeps Its Original Design, With New Bays Out Back, at About $19M
Atherton St · Building committee · Oct 26, 2026
Milton's Atherton St fire station will be renovated on its original design with two new garage bays, a roughly $19M project headed for Town Meeting next year.
- The decision: on Sept 22 the Fire Station Building Committee voted by roll call, with no member voting no, to go ahead with the original design: a renovation of the existing station with a new two-bay garage attached at the back. Earlier that night it voted unanimously to keep the new bays connected to the building, with indoor access.
- Why this one: it has the smallest footprint on the site and costs least of the three attached options. Planning Board and Historical Commission members at the meeting backed it because it leaves the original station more prominent. Two redesigns that moved the gym upstairs would have cost more.
- Cost: the committee's working budget for this design is just over $19 million for the whole project, including $1 million already approved, against about $19.96 million and $19.26 million for the two redesigns. On Oct 6, Select Board member Driscoll reported preliminary construction estimates of about $18 million.
- Next: about 8 to 10 weeks of construction drawings, then bids, with the goal of bids in hand around February and a vote at a possible special Town Meeting in March, or else the May annual Town Meeting. At the Oct 19 Town Meeting, the Warrant Committee chair listed a possible Atherton fire station override next spring.
- Background: the town has been planning a renovation of the Atherton St station plus new apparatus bays; the committee had asked for designs with three new bays, and a detached metal garage was also priced at the town administrator's request as the cheapest choice. Figures here come from the meeting video's auto-generated transcript.
Sources: Town Meeting video, Oct 19 (Milton Access TV) · Select Board minutes, Oct 6 · Fire Station Building Committee, Sept 22 (Milton Access TV)