Milton's estimated $16.1 million Atherton Street fire station rebuild won't go before voters this fall after all.

The Fire Station Building Committee reversed course and pulled the project from the October 2026 Special Town Meeting, citing concerns that a reliable cost estimate won't be ready in time. The committee now plans to bring the proposal to a special Town Meeting between January and March 2027, as reported by the Milton Times on Aug. 7.

The shift reverses a plan the committee had publicly outlined as recently as Wednesday, Aug. 5. As we reported that day, the committee was preparing to seek full project funding at the October Special Town Meeting, followed by a debt exclusion ballot question at the November state election.

That timeline is now off the table.

VERTEX project manager Bryan Fors told the committee that Warrant Committee numbers would have been due in the August-to-September window, leaving too little time to produce figures the committee could stand behind.

"The numbers for the Warrant Committee were going to be due in the August to September timeframe, which is even closer to where we sit right now," Fors said. "In doing so, we feel as though turning a number around, and coming and rushing to Town Meeting with that number, would ultimately not be as accurate and we would not have as much confidence in what we have in the design."

Fors added that the schedule delay will not affect the overall project timeline.

Under the revised plan, the committee will present the Atherton rebuild at a special Town Meeting sometime between January and March 2027. If Town Meeting approves the spending, a debt exclusion ballot question must then go before voters. Committee chair Brian Walsh said the committee intends to schedule that ballot before the April Annual Town Election.

A debt exclusion is a temporary property tax increase outside the Proposition 2½ levy limit that requires both Town Meeting approval and a separate ballot vote.

Town Meeting already approved $1 million at the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting for architectural, engineering and project management services to advance the station's design. The rebuild will expand the Atherton Street facility from two bays to five, add living quarters for firefighters and construct a modern decontamination area.

The Atherton station is the last of Milton's three fire stations to undergo major modernization. Fire Headquarters renovations were completed in 2024, and the new East Milton Fire Station is under construction at 432 Adams St.

No firm date for the special Town Meeting has been set. The committee's consultants include VERTEX and architectural firm Context.