Council debates survey on facilities, fire-substation options and zoning impacts as town considers growth pressures

Councilors spent an extended part of the meeting refining a public survey and education materials about town facilities, focusing particularly on firefighters’ and police needs, prior failed safety-complex warrant articles and whether to ask the public separately about two different proposals that recently failed at the ballot. Councilor Levesque, who led the item, said the survey will ask residents to rank town properties for repair or renovation and to explain why recent proposals for a combined fire-police facility and a separate fire substation failed on ballot questions. "So the first one is strictly location... the next one is around the cost... I would use this analogy. If I look at something and it's a $100 and I think, I'm not paying that. It's only worth 70. That's a value question," Levesque said while describing the survey wording. Councilors agreed to separate the distinct proposals (the combined fire–police complex and a smaller fire substation) into separate…