Town Meeting votes 168-45 to buy LaBarre land

Town Meeting · Meeting of October 29, 2026

Milton Town Meeting voted 168-45 to authorize borrowing $11.75 million to purchase the La Barre College property, sending the question to a December 15 townwide ballot. Select Board Chair Winston Daly called the 4.77-acre Adams Street parcel a rare chance for the town to control land that could otherwise become a Chapter 40B development, while Warrant Committee Chair Jay Fundling pegged potential savings versus the existing Guild Road school project at roughly $30 million. Precinct 3's Kevin Donahue countered that "there is no inherent cost savings in Article 6," warning the purchase could doom the Guild Road middle school plan.

Town Meeting also approved $300,000 in Community Preservation funds for a $1.45 million Tucker School playground overhaul, 218-1, and referred a $2.2 million water-main borrowing article back to the Select Board, 216-1, after officials disclosed a $300,000 budgeting error. A separate zoning change raising MBTA Communities affordable-housing requirements to 15 percent passed 209-3.

In the full story:

• Opening Business and Budget Articles
• Tucker School Playground Grant
• U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch's Remarks
• MBTA Communities Zoning Amendment
• La Barre College Property Acquisition
• PEG Access Fund and Remaining Articles
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,278 words

Source: the Town Meeting meeting of October 29, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.