Board backs undergrounding work for Chaco's Park, debates scope of construction documents

Speaker 1 reopened discussion of Chaco's Park and noted the town's 1% fund holds roughly $430,000; master-plan placeholders ranged from $250,000 to $500,000 for phase 1. "If undergrounding is important and we wanna do that in 2026, that we put a little bit extra in the budget," Speaker 1 said, urging caution on full project commitments until construction pricing is known.

Several trustees favored moving forward first with undergrounding and preparing construction documents to obtain concrete bids. Speaker 7 said construction documents allow going to bid and are the reasonable next step; Speaker 6 warned against locking in a final design that could silo the park from the Launchpad or overlook bathroom and parking issues. "Let's do the undergrounding. Everything else, let's take a breather," Speaker 6 said.

Staff recommended carrying forward only the undergrounding and construction-document items for the budget and revisiting broader capital commitments in early 2026 once staff and trustees have pricing and a prioritized capital list. Trustees agreed that completing construction documents would inform realistic phasing and grant opportunities without obligating the town to immediate full construction until funding and final designs are resolved.