Java with John: Restaurants, revenue, road safety, and more

Java with John: Restaurants, revenue, road safety, and more
March 28, 2026
byJames Conboy
March 30, Acton Senior Center:
Acton Town Manager John Mangiaratti began his monthly Java with John talk at the Senior Center by thanking Veterans’ Service Officer James McCrae for preparing breakfast prior to the meeting. The multi-course meal is only $3.00. He then went into a list of several large town projects nearing completion:

• Kelley’s Corner: Construction will be completed this summer, with the new traffic pattern in place. Trees removed for the project will be repurposed as benches, courtesy of Brad Spinney, with the assistance of students from Minuteman Regional Technical School. They will be dedicated to his relative, the late Carroll Spinney, an Acton resident who for decades played Big Bird on Sesame Street.
• 17 Woodbury Lane, the town’s long-vacant property across from Town Hall.
• The Dog Park.
• New granite for the Woodlawn Cemetery arch.
• And the new park at 53 River Street, which will be paid for by ARPA Cares, not Acton’s tax money.

Town Meeting Preview
Mangiaratti said the warrant for Town Meeting, which starts on May 4, will contain about forty articles to vote on, a typical number. They will include:

• The $3.75 million HVAC upgrade for Town Hall, which was rejected by voters last year. But the town will receive a $1 million grant if it gets a thumbs up this year. A separate article could authorize CPA tax funds for that, as well as another $600,000 for the deteriorating bell tower.
• The DPW building on Forest Road, which voters also rejected last year, but approved $150,000 to study a cheaper alternative. The new plan aims to re-use an old building to store trucks, instead of building a new garage. The building committee will submit a cost estimate to the Select Board.
• Four zoning articles concerning non-conforming lots. (Zoning changes require a 2/3 vote.)
• How to spend $150,000 from the opioid settlement from drug companies, on public health programs.

The Select Board has already approved the municipal budget proposal of $43,851,840, an increase of 3.05%
Businesses

• Insulet Corporation in Nagog Park, a maker of insulin patches, is now the largest employer in the town. He said they are looking to expand their business, and the town wants to keep it here, since a strong business base lessens the residential tax burden.
• Restaurants: A Jersey Mike’s will be opening in the Stop and Shop plaza. (Note: As the March 21 Exchange reported, Wonder, a restaurant with multiple menus, held a grand opening at their Brookside Shops location on March 4).

Residents’ questions

• 46 Taylor Road: This former residence is for sale at $1.4 million, with the town having the right of first refusal, since it’s covered by a chapter 61B tax reduction. Could this be paid by CPA taxes? This would require a Town Meeting article.
• Solar panels at the transfer station: These generate revenue, as excess power is sold to the utility.
• The Conant School building: The AB Forward project closed it as a school, so it will be repurposed.
• McManus Manor: This 31-unit complex for tenants who are 62-plus or disabled should open in July.
• Road safety issues: Several residents called for a crosswalk with lights where Audubon Hill intersects with High Street. Also mentioned were the bad sightlines at the intersection of Parker and School Streets, where a motorcyclist lost his life in an accident, and at Central and Main Streets near the train station. The latter will be “squared off” under the Complete Streets project.
• Acton Leadership Group (ALG) meeting: A resident lamented seeing so much concern by attendees about a $10,000 budget discrepancy. But Mangiaratti disagreed, saying that that amount of money is “not just a rounding error.”

 
{original article in Acton Exchange}