Burlington Reaches Milestone on Two Major Capital Projects

September saw a major milestone years in the making for two building projects in Burlington. Town officials gathered with school and district staff gathered on September 2 for the steel topping-off ceremony at Fox Hill Elementary School. Then, on September 14, town officials and Burlington Police personnel were on hand at 55 Center Street, where the old police station (also the old Union School among many other uses) was also topped off.

As officials explained at each ceremony, the topping off is held when the last or highest steel beam is placed in a new building. The final beam was signed by students and staff, in the case of Fox Hill, and by officers, residents, and town officials in the case of the police station.

Both the school and police station have been years in the making. Discussions about different options for addressing the outdated Fox Hill go back to at least 2019, and the formal state process began in 2021. That's when the school district was invited into the feasibility portion of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program; from there, a school building committee was formed and several options were investigated. The final decision came down to whether to combine Fox Hill and Pine Glen into one school on the Fox Hill site or to build a single Fox Hill school.

The process was not always smooth, and the ideal solution wasn't obvious, or even agreed on, by School Committee members or within the community. In the end, though, the School Committee chose to build Fox Hill alone. The new school will be two stories and 91,000 square feet (compared to the current school's 64,400 square feet) and have a 325-student capacity. Compared with the existing 1960s Fox Hill building, classrooms will be larger, and specialists like speech therapists will have their own spaces.

School Committee Member Melissa Massardo has chaired the Fox Hill School Building Committee since the beginning. "Every name signed on this beam is becoming a part of the building itself," said Massardo. "It'll be up there through the new fall festival, the first days of school, for as long as this building stands. Congratulations to every Fox Hill student who made their mark today — you're officially part of the new building."

The conversation about the police station has been going on for even longer – at least since former Police Chief Michael Kent began his tenure in 2010 and advocated for a change in venue. The building, originally constructed in 1897, had many structural concerns as well as water damage and mold, as documented in this tour with current Chief of Police Thomas Browne, filmed by Burlington Cable Access Television (BCAT).

Chief Browne recognized Kent's advocacy and the long path to getting a new station. "When Chief Kent came to Burlington, he immediately recognized the condition of the former station and began to lay the groundwork with town officials regarding the conditions we were facing. Truth be told, the willingness on their behalf to listen wasn't at a high level in the beginning, but his persistence paid off."

In a similar feasibility process, a police station building committee was formed and looked at some relocation options but ultimately found that the current central location on the municipal campus was the most appropriate place for the station. This meant knocking down the historic building, which had been modified with several additions over the years, and making way for the new 39,000-square-foot building. Among the features of the new station are modern holding and evidence storage facilities, a firing range, and an on-site fitness room.

"This new police station represents our community's commitment to the men and women who protect us every day, giving them a facility built for the demands of modern policing," said Select Board Chair and retired police officer James Tigges. "It also represents our commitment to every resident who calls Burlington home — a visible, lasting investment in public safety. As a Select Board, we've watched this project move from a line in the budget to steel in the sky, and we can be proud of what our town has accomplished together. This building will serve Burlington for generations long after those of us here today have moved on."

Together, the police station and Fox Hill will cost the town around $100 million. The latest figures on the school suggest the cost to the town will be around $60 million after state reimbursement, and the police station estimates are just under $45 million. The town was able to absorb the costs of these buildings into its tax levy capacity (the cap on how much the town can raise in property taxes without voter approval). The next major building project on the horizon remains unsettled, as a debt exclusion to fund a $333 million addition-renovation at Burlington High School was voted down at a November 2025 special election.

Both buildings are expected to be done around the same time, with the police station complete in late 2027 and Fox Hill opening in the spring of 2028.