Southborough committee to pursue MassWorks Route 9 application, will also seek smaller downtown planning grant

Members of a Town of Southborough committee agreed at a meeting to prioritize a $400,000 MassWorks expression of interest for a Route 9 wastewater predevelopment scope while also pursuing a separate community planning grant for downtown.

The committee said the Route 9 application will be the primary focus because it better fits the town’s near-term infrastructure goals and because MassWorks awards typically favor a single clearly scoped project. Anna (Weston & Sampson) said, “we are thinking that it would be best to show the town's pure focus on Route 9.”

The decision matters because MassWorks awards infrastructure planning and predevelopment funding that can advance design work for projects that later seek construction funding. Committee members discussed the size of requests, local matching requirements, timelines for design, and practical next steps for putting completed draft answers into the MassWorks (IGX) portal.

The committee reviewed two grant tracks: the MassWorks expression of interest that the group previously scoped at $400,000 for Route 9, and a separate community planning grant option for the downtown area. Committee members said the prior $2,000,000 downtown ask is no longer the recommended approach; instead, members discussed seeking a planning-level award in the low‑five‑figure range. “The plan is $50,000 for downtown and $400,000 for Route 9,” a committee member summarized during the meeting.

Committee members and consultant staff agreed on these technical and schedule assumptions for the applications: Route 9 design is currently at roughly 10–15% and, with the proposed $400,000 scope, could reach about 75% design by June 2027; the downtown planning grant would aim to advance planning toward roughly 25% design or an actionable plan by about June 2026.

Members also discussed how the town will demonstrate match funding. Anna (Weston & Sampson) explained the typical MassWorks practice: project sponsors must document match sources (cash and in‑kind) during project invoicing and reimbursement. The committee noted that MassWorks often treats a 25% match as a competitiveness signal. Members agreed it would be acceptable to indicate the town’s intent to seek a special town meeting appropriation in the fall to supply the municipal cash match, plus the use of in‑kind town resources where appropriate. Sam Seiber said a fall town meeting is likely “late October, early November,” which the committee viewed as compatible with the MassWorks schedule.

The committee assigned practical next steps: consultants would continue drafting the application text and upload working versions to a SharePoint site for committee review; the committee will gather letters of support from local property owners and stakeholders; and staff will request IGX portal access for consultant use so consultants can paste final answers directly into the application form. Anna said she would post drafts to SharePoint and notify members when sections are ready for comment.

Members also reviewed potential disposal and recharge sites that could be relevant to the Route 9 feasibility work, including the former EMC/Dell parcel, portions of the town golf course, parcels near the school campus, transit‑oriented parcels near Madison Place Apartments and Ted’s Towing, and a stretch of MassDOT‑owned land in the I‑495 median north of Route 9. Consultants cautioned that property owner negotiations and MassDOT real‑estate processes are preliminary and that naming specific sites in the application is neither required nor always appropriate at this stage.

Consultant Chris Perkins (Weston & Sampson) cautioned about staffing and time: “Time is tight,” he said, urging the committee to focus consultant resources on the Route 9 submission first so the town does not degrade the quality of both applications by overextending limited staff time.

The committee approved the minutes of the May 12, 2025 meeting (Shay abstained) and closed the meeting with a plan to reconvene later in the week to continue drafting application text and coordinating letters of support.

The committee did not make final funding commitments or select construction financing mechanisms; members noted multiple future funding pathways (municipal bond, user fees, district financing, public‑private options) that would require additional study and separate approvals.

For now, the committee’s direction is procedural: submit a focused MassWorks predevelopment request for Route 9 as the priority and submit a separate, smaller community planning grant for downtown to advance planning, while pursuing town meeting approval for any required municipal match and collecting stakeholder support letters.