Concord Town Meeting Approves $4.7 Million in Community Preservation Projects 382-59

CARLISLE -- April 28, 2026, Concord's Annual Town Meeting approved $4.675 million in Community Preservation Committee spending and passed four other warrant articles on its second night, April 28, but a wholesale replacement of the town's 1998 wireless communications bylaw fell one vote short of the required two-thirds supermajority. The community preservation package, which passed 382-59, includes $1,417,655 for an ADA-compliant amenities building at Concord-Carlisle High School's athletic fields, a project that survived a floor amendment to strip it from the article after Town Counsel Mina Macarius told voters that ADA-accessible rehabilitation of recreational land is explicitly authorized under the Community Preservation Act. Select Board member Cameron McKenna, speaking on the wireless article, argued that years of restrictive zoning had discouraged cell carriers from applying to site facilities in town: "Imagine being a private company and saying, hey, what a wonderful opportunity to come here to Concord." A substitute wireless motion by environmental attorney and resident Gail Hire that would have preserved the wireless overlay district failed 117-210; the Planning Board's full replacement then fell one vote short of two-thirds. The meeting also approved a solar rooftop policy, a dark-sky exterior lighting bylaw, an MBTA Communities zoning fix, and a mixed-use development bylaw overhaul that passed 279-133, with three warrant articles deferred to a third night on April 29.