Sudbury Park and Recreation approves universal-design playground for Town Meeting

SUDBURY -- March 23, 2026, Sudbury Park and Recreation unanimously backs universal-design playground, escalates solar canopy fight. The commission voted 5-0 March 23 to support the Fairbank Community Center playground replacement at Annual Town Meeting, with Assistant Town Manager Victor Garofalo saying the design has "really truly maximized" the footprint. Garofalo separately walked the commission through a recreation financial review showing the field enterprise fund balancing only by drawing about $21,000 from $72,682 in retained earnings, and the Atkinson Pool enterprise fund using roughly $110,000 in retained earnings to close FY27, patterns the state Department of Revenue has flagged as unsustainable. Sudbury is the only town in a five-community comparison that performs no indirect cost recovery on recreation. Members Ben Carmel and Bobby Beagan sharply criticized their exclusion from the Haskell parking-lot solar canopy process; Beagan said the project "has put such a bad taste in my mouth." Vice-Chair Laurie Eliason will draft a letter to the Select Board for the April 13 meeting, when developer Byron Woodman is expected to present.