Scituate Voters Approve $27M North Scituate Sewer, Reject Police Firing Range

SCITUATE — April 13, 2026 — Scituate voters approve $27 million North Scituate sewer expansion while rejecting a $2.5 million police firearms training range. At the combined Special and Annual Town Meeting on April 13, moderator Maura Curran presided over the sewer borrowing vote, which passed by two-thirds supermajority with no audible opposition; Select Board Chair Andrew Goodrich said the state financing package carries a 1.8 percent effective interest rate and saves the town between $5 million and $8 million, with all costs assessed to benefiting properties through betterments rather than the general tax levy. The $16.7 million capital improvement plan — 57.2 percent borrowing-supported — passed overall, but the four-bay police training range fell at 108 to 72, short of the required two-thirds. Town Administrator Jim Boudreau called the range a training necessity: "Do we want to provide the best training possible for our officers and hope we never need it?" A proposed new deck setback bylaw (Section 620.4D) was tabled after the advisory committee said late revisions denied them adequate review time, and a waterways bylaw redefining commercial fishermen to require 51 percent gross income from fishing was tabled 68-31 after commercial fisherman David Dauphine argued the threshold is unenforceable and unprecedented. The $109.75 million FY2027 operating budget passed unanimously; Town Meeting resumes April 14 at 7 p.m.