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The Swellesley Report

Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

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Top Stories

Another multi-family housing development in the works
Wellesley celebrates Boston Marathon in style
Select Board approves Special Town Meeting article language on MassBay land plans

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New Wellesley multi-tenant housing plan: 8 townhouses just off Linden Street near train station

April 23, 2026 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

10 Railroad Street housing
10 Railroad St. townhouse rendering by MGD+ (shown from Linden Street and from above)

Plans for eight townhomes, including two affordable units, are being aired before the Wellesley Design Review Board later this month for 10 Railroad St.

The three-story development, if approved, would rise at the current parking lot off of Linden Street alongside the railroad tracks near the Wellesley Square train station. This is located behind the Takara restaurant and Goddard School, and just east of the 35-unit Terrazza condo complex across the street.

The 10 Railroad St. property, along with the 151-159 Linden Street commercial property, changed hands in a multimillion dollar deal last summer.

The development at 10 Railroad St. would be the second proposed housing plan in town under the MBTA Communities Law, which Wellesley complied with in 2024 and allows by right development to encourage new housing near public transportation. The first such project proposed is on Laurel Avenue across from the Wellesley Hills train station.

Wellesley is seeing an influx of multi-tenant housing, both spurred by state actions like the MBTA Communities Law and Affordable Homes Act, and as a result of oodles of office properties changing hands or going on the market. The town also commissioned a strategic housing plan designed to help it strategize for more diverse housing.

The 10 Railroad St. project, to feature varied brick veneer facing Railroad St.,  is located within the Industrial A Zoning District and the MBTA Overlay District. The applicant intends to file for Site Plan Review, which would meaning going through the Zoning Board of Appeals.

According to the applicant, each three-bedroom unit will have its own outdoor space surrounded by an 6-foot fence, to create separation from the railroad tracks. Units will have their own garages in the basement (room for two vehicles in market rate units, one vehicle in affordable ones). The development will be fully electric, and include support for possible solar panels. Units boast about 3,800 sq. ft. of space; the affordable units lack a third floor deck found in the other units.

Pricing has not been revealed.


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Filed Under: Housing

     

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Geology Walk: adventure through time at Hemlock Gorge with Wellesley Conservation Land Trust

April 23, 2026 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley’s own rock star, Chris Crowley will unearth the past during a geological expedition through Hemlock Gorge on Saturday, April 25, at 10am. Meet at the Echo Bridge trail head across from 27 Hamilton Place, Needham. There is a small parking lot at the trailhead.

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust
Chris Crowley, WCLT geology enthusiast

Sure, Hemlock Gorge as a scenic spot for a weekend stroll, but did you know that just below the trail’s surface lies the remnants of a  fascinating prehistoric past? Chris will peel back the layers of deep time, examining bedrock formations and the visible scars left by ancient glacial movements.

“If you have never been to the gorge, it is a gem,” Chris says. “There are terrific exposures of Roxbury Puddingstone and dramatic views of the Charles River and several dams.”

Registration is required. Participants are encouraged to wear sturdy walking shoes and bring water.

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Filed Under: Education, Environment, Hikes

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Legal Notice

Town of Wellesley: 2026 Special Town Meeting

April 23, 2026 by admin Leave a Comment

The Select Board will convene a Special Town Meeting on Monday, May 11, at 7:00 P.M at the Wellesley High School Auditorium, 50 Rice Street. The Warrant for the Special Town Meeting will close at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 24, 2026.

Any person desiring to have an article included in the Warrant for the Special Town Meeting shall submit a petition signed by not less than one hundred (100) registered voters of the Town. Any such petition shall be submitted to the Town Clerk for signature verification.

After being signed by the Select Board, the full text of the Special Town Meeting Warrant will be available from the Select Board Office located at 525 Washington Street and will be posted at the Town Clerk’s Office at 525 Washington Street, Police Station at 485 Washington Street and on the Town’s website (www.wellesleyma.gov).

Motions to be offered to the Special Town Meeting must be submitted digitally to the Select Board Office at sel@wellesleyma.gov by 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

WELLESLEY SELECT BOARD

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Filed Under: Government, Town Meeting

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Wellesley Select Board approves Special Town Meeting article language on MassBay land plans

April 22, 2026 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

The Wellesley Select Board on Tuesday approved language for a Special Town Meeting article regarding the state’s proposed sale of land at MassBay Community College to support the creation of 180 housing units and partially fund future upgrades on the MassBay campus (see Wellesley Media recording).

The board is set to make a presentation about the article at the Advisory Committee on Wednesday, April 2s at 6:30pm, and then reconvene for a Select Board meeting on Thursday, April 23 at 6:30pm to discuss the motion language under the article.

The Select Board, on the heels of the latest communication from the state regarding the future of 45 acres of MassBay property, last week called for a Special Town Meeting on May 11 where the issue will be addressed. The state’s plans to sell MassBay property deemed “surplus”—roughly five acres of parking lot, roughly 40 acres of forest—has sparked concerns from neighbors and users of the adjacent Centennial Reservation as well as enthusiasm from those who say the state’s plans could lead to needed housing, protections for the forest, and improvements at MassBay.

The Select Board’s plan for Special Town Meeting is to put a non-binding question or questions to Wellesley’s elected legislators to gauge what course they and their constituents would like the town to take on the MassBay land matter.

Article 2 language reads as follows:

To see if the Town will vote to advise the Select Board to take the following actions:

A. Pursue an agreement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wherein the Town will accept the construction of 180 units of housing on and around the parking lot at 40 Oakland Street on approximately 7 to 8 acres of land in exchange for a permanent conservation restriction for passive recreation on the remaining 37 to 38 acres of land at that location; or

B. Pursue litigation against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts seeking a declaration that some or all of the land located at 40 Oakland Street is not legally available for housing use, and seeking to limit, to the greatest extent feasible, the amount of housing that may be constructed on any portion of the property determined to be eligible for such use; or to take any other action in relation thereto

Town Counsel Tom Harrington presented the draft article language. The Select Board has been meeting behind closed doors for months with attorneys to explore possible litigation over the MassBay matter (the board has also provided public updates and allowed for public comment).

Select Board member Kenny Largess, one of numerous lawyers at Town Hall that night, proposed broader language, fearing that the draft language from Harrington was too narrow. He described a scenario where people who might not be inclined to vote for negotiating with the state might feel forced to do so without having a real sense of how litigation might go. Harrington assured that Town Meeting members would be able to make motions that focused on something in between the goalposts set out in the article language.

Beth Sullivan Woods favored the Largess proposal, and took exception to specifying acreage amounts in the language.

“This sets up a premise that it’s fight the definition of ‘surplus’ or agree that 180 is the right number,” she said. “I have never heard from this community that 180 units on the parking lot is acceptable to anyone…”

Board Chair Marjorie Freiman said that what she has heard from the public over the past year is that the town’s priority is protecting the forest.

“If we can get 37 or 38 acres can we live with the result?” she asked. “Well, that’s essentially the question, that’s the bottom line question. What’s your priority? What are you willing to live with? What are you willing to risk? What are you willing to give up?”

Board member Tom Ulfelder backed the language from Harrington, arguing that it “sharpens the debate.” He stated, “that stark difference between [A and B] is exactly what we want the community and Town Meeting to understand. That we don’t have fine gradations of the state’s offer realistically in front of us that we can push forward. Board member Colette Aufranc also supported the original article draft language, seeing it as “not binary, there’s a sliding scale” within the parameters.

Freiman emphasized a reason for holding Special Town Meeting on May 11 and keeping it to one night is that it will give the town a chance to hit the state’s May 13 deadline for submitting comments on the disposition and reuse of the property at 40 Oakland St. “We don’t want to lose the opportunity to respond to the state within the time that they have given us. Again, they are the state and we’re the town…”

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust retains counsel to protect MassBay forest

Separately, the non-profit Wellesley Conservation Land Trust (WCLT) has retained Hill Law “to represent its interests in matters relating to the MassBay Community College Forest. Among other reasons, WCLT has asked Counsel to determine whether that land is protected under Article 97, which guarantees for all the ‘right to a clean environment including its natural, scenic, historical, and aesthetic qualities for the citizens of the Commonwealth.'”

According to the group, “At this time, WCLT is focused on evaluating the situation and supporting efforts aligned with its mission. The organization remains committed to working constructively with stakeholders and will provide updates as appropriate.”



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Filed Under: Government, MassBay, MassBay Housing & Forest News

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Wellesley Select Board, School Committee separately debrief on Annual Town Meeting

April 22, 2026 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Select Board and School Committee each debriefed a week after the conclusion of Annual Town Meeting, the first in decades that featured separately voted on town and school budgets. The budget presentations, discussion, and voting took place on the second night of Town Meeting, and went smoothly.

Select Board members who commented at their April 14 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording) said they thought the separation of the budgets worked well, and Executive Director Meghan Jop said that now that a process for doing so has been put in place, it should be easier to collect the necessarily information on shared service breakouts, etc.

Board Chair Marjorie Freiman said “for me, because [school] enrollment is dynamic, and we’re always going to have an examination of shared costs and direct costs, I liked seeing them separately. So I would support keeping the two budgets in separate motions…”

Beth Sullivan Woods agreed, saying that having the separate school and town budget presentations provides “a good chance to take a break and talk and then let people focus on the next thing.”

Board member Colette Aufranc also supported the separate budget presentations, though wondered how handling this would go for town staff going forward. Jop said “now that we have allocated how we would break up the budget based upon particular line items… I think it’s easier to employ,” adding that forms are in place now and people know how to fill them out.

There was some discussion of whether or not it would be a good idea to have additional departmental updates shared at Town Meeting, where one goal has been to make the legislative sessions more efficient. The board discussed doing a better job of letting Town Meeting members and others know when departmental leaders are sharing updates with the board. This would complement Swellesley’s weekly previews on town government meeting agendas and reports on departmental updates, such as from the fire and police chiefs.


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The Select Board also discussed Town Meeting attendance (we’re working to get this from the town clerk, though the voting scorecards posted by the town give you much of this), audio/visual issues, and the order in which the Town-Wide Financial Plan is presented during Town Meeting. The plan this year had been to present the Town-Wide Financial Plan on night #2, ahead of the town and school budget presentations, but it got moved up to night #1 after members requested it be aired ahead of any appropriations-related motions.

The School Committee and School Department, which had earlier expressed reservations about moving away from an omnibus budget to separate town and school ones, also debriefed on April 14 about Town Meeting (see Wellesley Media recording, about 1 hour, 33 minutes in).

School Committee Chair Niki Ofenloch said she was pleased overall with out how things went. “We were not sure how the conversation or the vote would go with the separate motions this year and it seemed like it was pretty much the same as it was in the prior year, just with two votes instead of one,” she said.

New School Committee member Bob Sullivan agreed that things went smoothly at Town Meeting and that the schools’ budget book answered many questions the public had. But in stepping back, he raised a point about lots of potential town and school capital projects putting even more budgetary pressure on schools. He cited concerns raised during Advisory Committee meetings ahead of Town Meeting about student-facing vs. administrative headcount and overall district performance. “It’s going to be incumbent upon us to make sure that we have, particularly in this environment, the support of different constituencies,” he said, noting that not all Advisory members voted favorable action on the school budget. The schools need to ensure the data they have is made understandable.

Costas Panagopoulos, also a new committee member, agreed that the schools will need to focus on justifying any reductions in student-facing positions given the sorts of questions raised along the way (school administrators have spoken of how certain non-student-facing positions are tweeners in that they enable teachers to improve what they do). “Because Town Meeting members can’t look at the school budget line by line and make modifications, we don’t want to create a situation which because they don’t like one small part of this budget they end up voting the whole thing down. We escaped that kind of fate this time around, but that is not necessarily always going to be the case…,” he said, noting that some on Advisory appeared to be fine with the budget overall but not with certain elements of it. (Supt. Dr. David Lussier said later in the meeting that the administration understands the need to bring further clarity to staffing decisions.)

Panagopoulos also pointed to decisions made at Town Meeting on non-school topics (like not funding a Comprehensive Plan) that illustrate “that there’s an appetite in this town for doing certain things, but not all things.” The School Department and School Committee will need to come to Town Meetings with very strong cases for resources they might request, such as for school facilities master planning. “We should be ready for Plan B if [support] does not materialize” in the face of possible large tax increases, he said.

Linda Chow stood by the School Department’s transparency in answering questions about its budget well before Town Meeting, and described the separation of budgets as essentially pitting schools vs. the rest of the town. It also introduces the risk that one or the other budget could get voted down, and the uncertainty of what would happen in such a case, she said.


Annual Town Meeting 2026 recaps:

  • Town Meeting dissolves following lengthy RIO zoning amendment discussion
  • A marathon session for Public Works at Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #3
  • Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #2: Split budget motions go smoothly, get approved
  • First night of Wellesley Annual Town Meeting features twists & turns

Up next: 

  • Special Town Meeting on May 11 to address MassBay land plans
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Filed Under: Government, Town Meeting

Rotary Club, Taste of Wellesley

Coming soon: Wellesley in Bloom starts May 2nd

April 22, 2026 by admin

Wellesley in Bloom

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Filed Under: Sponsored

Survey says? Share your thoughts about the Wellesley DPW

April 22, 2026 by admin 1 Comment

From the Department of Public Works:

Wellesley Municipal Light Plant, DPW
Wellesley Municipal Light Plant

Share your feedback on Department of Public Works (DPW) operations by completing the Spring 2026 DPW Customer Survey.

All comments are valuable to help DPW identify the level of satisfaction with current services and where improvement is needed.

The deadline to complete the nine-question survey is Saturday, May 16.

Questions? Please email dpw@wellesleyma.gov

Reminder:  The RDF Reusables Area re-opens for the 2026 season on Wednesday, April 22. Hours of operation are:

  • 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (Wednesdays)
  • 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Thursday through Saturday)
  • CLOSED (Sunday through Tuesday)

Hours may change due to volunteer schedules. If you are interested in becoming a Reusables volunteer, please contact the RDF office at 781-235-7600 ext. 3345.

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Filed Under: RDF

A sampling of Boston Marathon ‘Scream Tunnel’ signs

April 21, 2026 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Our Wellesley College insider, Iris Zhan, shared a bunch of great photos from the Boston Marathon’s Scream Tunnel that we didn’t get into our earlier coverage…

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026
All photos by Iris Zhan

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

Boston Marathon Scream Tunnel 2026

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Filed Under: Boston Marathon, Wellesley College

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