CPC Votes to Shift $240,000 for School Playground

Other Committee · Meeting of October 21, 2026

Southwick's Community Preservation Committee voted to shift $240,000 toward an elementary school's inclusive playground project. Chair Chris Pratt presided as members approved moving $120,000 each from the Open Space reserve and a second category to cover the highest contractor quote, after the applicant said switching to pour-in-place surfacing instead of rubber tile would save about $26,000. Member Dennis Clark won approval to use the committee's $34,400 administrative fund for three independent land appraisals, covering a Sopanowski Preserve addition and two Agricultural Preservation Restriction properties on Coastal Road and College Highway, to meet a spring Town Meeting deadline rather than wait on the state.

Members separately tabled discussion of creating a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, saying "it really should be individuals in the community" who push the Select Board to form one, and agreed to formally transfer responsibility for a related housing-trust action item back to the town's Master Plan Implementation Committee.

In the full story:

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of October 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

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