Scituate Select Board adopts outdoor dining rules, sets water and sewer rate hikes for FY27

SCITUATE -- May 26, 2026, Scituate Select Board approves flood resilience plans, outdoor dining rules, and six committee appointments at wide-ranging May 26 meeting. The board voted unanimously to accept two wetland conservation land donations, one on Tilden Road from Kimberly Richards and Winifred Smith, and one on Wheeler Avenue from Steven J. Bjorkman, and heard updated cost estimates for the Cole Parkway redevelopment, projected at $5.3 million to $6.6 million, with a preferred alternative advancing that raises the parking lot grade and adds roughly eight spaces. The board set fiscal year 2027 water rates at a 1 percent base and 5 percent usage increase in a 4-1 vote, and sewer rates at a 2 percent base and 6.5 percent usage increase unanimously; Finance Director Nancy Holt said both leave Scituate near the middle of comparable South Shore communities. The Pier 44 waterfront park, reduced from $6 million to approximately $4 million after the shade structure and landscaping were trimmed, is headed to a fall town meeting vote with a projected spring 2028 opening. The board adopted a new consolidated outdoor dining policy, requiring Health Department and Fire Chief sign-off and a minimum 36-inch pedestrian clearance, and appointed Megan Scott to the Coastal Advisory Commission, Vincent Fontaine to the Veterans Service Advisory Council, Danielle Robertson to the Harbor Cultural District Committee, and Mary Penny as voting member with Michael Sautter and John Penny as associate members to the Council on Aging.