Shrewsbury CPC Seeks Coalition Ruling on ADA Sidewalk Funding at Arrowwood Playground

SHREWSBURY — June 1, 2026 — Shrewsbury's Community Preservation Committee deferred action on a $14,900 sidewalk repair at the Arrowwood playground pending a ruling from the Community Preservation Coalition on whether CPA funds may be used for the work. Ryan Pottebrin, the town's new Parks and Cemetery Division Manager who replaced retired Kevin Esposito in April, presented the change order, which would bring the Belco construction contract to $363,700 against a roughly $600,000 Town Meeting appropriation with approximately $88,000 unencumbered. The committee agreed the repair turns on whether deteriorated sidewalk serving the playground's ADA entry points qualifies as recreational access rather than routine municipal maintenance — a question sharpened by a Plymouth Superior Court ruling that rejected a similar argument by the town of Norwell. The committee also informally approved drainage and warranty-resurfacing work at the Dean Park basketball courts as contingency expenditures, and heard from Brenda Nagel Goodwill of Friends of Prospect Park, who is reapproaching a pergola rebuilding project under the recreational open space funding category after a prior historic-rehabilitation application was rejected. The committee voted to skip its July meeting and reconvene August 3.