Wellesley Special Town Meeting gulps retail booze changes, OKs $ for seniors

The Wellesley Special Town Meeting has gotten much accomplished this week, though will need at least one more night (next Monday) to wrap up the issue of funding for school capital projects.

As expected, the motion to approve 6 malt and wine licenses for retail establishments passed easily and now it’s up to the state legislature to help move things forward (a townwide vote could then happen in the spring, paving the way for grocery and other retailers to sell booze).

Whether or not town meeting would approve $300K+ in additional funds to study issues (parking, traffic, etc.)  that have so far prevented the Tolles-Parsons Senior Center project from being okayed was less clear at the start, and despite vigorous back and forth during the meeting for more than 3 hours, monies were approved by a vote of 130-52 in the event the Board of Selectmen is able to move the proposed project forward with cooperation from the Planning Board. Wellesley’s police chief, a prominent lawyer and others spoke favorably about the project.

Here’s the town meeting scorecard, plus coverage from the Townsman and Patch (Monday and  Tuesday).

If you missed the meeting and want to catch it on cable or online, here’s Wellesley Media’s schedule. You can catch Monday’s meeting on-demand here.