Medeiros Farm Traffic Study Defeated

An effort by the Seekonk Select Board to restart the stalled Medeiros Farm project failed at their September 2 meeting. The board voted 2-2 to approve a traffic study in order to aid with the design plans for the project. Chair Gary Sagar and Elizabeth Elmasian were in favor, with Chris Zorra and Michael Healy opposed. Robert Archambault recused himself from the discussion and did not vote following complaints from some residents about Archambault being an abutter to the Medeiros Farm.

“Because of his financial interest as a direct abutter, the law prohibits you from participating as a Select Board member,” said Chris Rizzo, a member of the Seekonk Town Democratic Committee, which has voiced their dismay to votes Archambault and Elmasian have made about the project.

Rizzo also asked the board “to consider the implications” of moving forward with their own traffic study, excluding the Medeiros Farm Committee “from a project they have overseen from day one.”

In 2022, the Town acquired Medeiros Farm for $2 million. At the May 2023 Town Meeting, voters authorized the spending of $150,000 from the Community Preservation Fund to hire a consultant to develop a master plan for the Medeiros Farm. A seven member committee was later appointed to oversee the project.

The project has been plagued by controversy for over a year. Residents on Elm and Lincoln streets objected to multiple soccer fields being placed in their neighborhood. Two citizens’ petition articles were placed on the November 2025 Town Meeting warrant. One was to rescind $825,000 in funding already appropriated for the project. The other was to rescind the appointment of the Medeiros Farm Committee. Both articles failed.

At the June 24 meeting, the board rejected a bid award for designer services to CHA Consulting for $549,450.

Zorra and Healy were in favor, with Sagar, Elmasian, and Archambault in opposition.

Elmasian responded to the criticism from residents: “The contract was not complete. What we were given, I wouldn’t advise anyone to sign it. That’s why that document wasn’t signed. If anyone would like to see the contract, we should share it because it didn’t make reference to anything that was in the RFQ. What was not in that contract could’ve ended up costing the town more money. It was more legalities than anything else.” 

The contract with CHA stated: “The Awarding Authority shall furnish to the Designer available surveys of the project building site, showing the grades and lines of streets, pavements and adjoining properties; the rights, restrictions, easements, boundaries and controls of the site, or sites; reports from any borings, test pits, chemical, mechanical or other tests, any photographs and information as to water, sewer, electricity, steam, gas, telephone and other services.”

In Article 7, the section pertaining to the Designer’s Basic Fee, no dollar amount is specified: “For the performance of all services required under the terms of this AGREEMENT and excluding those services specified under ARTICLES 8, 9 and 10, the Designer shall be compensated by the Awarding Authority in accordance with the lump sum fixed fee for this project. The fee is to be (line is blank).”

Under Article 11, the contract states: “By written notice to the Designer, the Awarding Authority may terminate this contract at any time. If any such termination shall occur without the fault of the Designer, all compensation and reimbursement due to the Designer up to the date of termination, in accordance with all contract terms, shall be paid to the Designer by the Awarding Authority. Such payment shall not exceed the fair value of the work, as the Awarding Authority shall determine.”

Doreen Taylor, a longtime critic of the way the project was handled, said residents need “full disclosure, adherence to typical laws, established policies, and defined procedures for use. Anything less is totally unacceptable. We have a right to know before anyone acts. Clearly in this project case, whether one likes it or does not like it, it was a mess from day one.”