Medfield Select Board closes state hospital grounds, confirms Planning Board appointment

MEDFIELD — March 3, 2026 — Medfield Select Board temporarily closes state hospital grounds and accepts $4.5 million in housing funds. The board voted 3-0 at its March 3 meeting to bar all public access to the Medfield State Hospital campus until further notice — roughly two weeks — citing hazardous winter conditions on the rear access road and pedestrians crossing active construction fencing around trenching work by contractor Belforge. Public commenter Jeff Hyman, citing 35 years of construction experience, told the board that "you don't cross the public with a construction site without fencing" and that the situation "cannot be aspirational in any way." The board also voted unanimously to authorize the Town Administrator to sign a $4.5 million Housing Works Infrastructure Program contract with the Commonwealth, intended to flow through the Medfield Affordable Housing Trust to developer Trinity Financial, which has now secured roughly $10.5 million of an approximately $25 million redevelopment financing target. Additional votes approved $20,333 from the FY26 Municipal Building Stabilization emergency fund for failed steam condensate tanks at Dale Street School, a $75,000 state contract for a Route 109 traffic signal study covering all downtown lights, a $3,000 amendment to the town's wayfinding contract with Selbert Perkins Design bringing that total to $38,000, and the reopening and closing of the annual town meeting warrant to add four articles: a literacy curriculum purchase, an Override Stabilization Fund, a snow deficit appropriation of approximately $150,000, and a Veteran Banner Revolving Fund for a hometown hero light-pole banner program. The board also confirmed the appointment of associate Planning Board member Mike Indren to a full-member vacancy left by the resignation of longtime member Seth Meehan, whose seat runs through 2028.