UPDATE (3/16/18): The Wellesley Planning Board and Board of Selectmen will meet Monday night to vote on the Unified Plan, so now’s the time to take a peek at it and share with the town any thoughts you have.
The 15-chapter, 308-page Wellesley Unified Plan is now available as a draft document for public perusal, and there’s a lot to digest in there.
I’ve been scrolling through it on my iPhone on the commuter rail train, and have definitely learned a few things (and it looks pretty darned good on a phone, with its many colorful charts and community survey results). The plan covers everything from schools to sustainability to affordable and empty-nester housing to economic planning.
Among the more interesting ideas I hadn’t previously heard much about are the concept of a new performing arts center in town and adding someone in town government to oversee economic development from office parks to established retail areas (as Needham has done). And there are fun (or not so fun) facts galore, such as that 45% of working Wellesley residents work in town and that the net gain in single-family housing between 2014 and 2018 in Wellesley was just 11 units. One section delves into possible uses for the North 40, including as a location for housing.
The town wants to hear your feedback on the plan, so read away…
Bbrown, I agree with you on one thing — it sure looks snazzy! Hat’s off to the folks in the graphics department. But content is another story. It starts off wonderfully with the following sentence “21st-Century Wellesley is a thriving, mature, historic, suburban community, known for its high quality of life. Lively village centers, an excellent school system, commuter rail connections, substantial open space, and beautiful neighborhoods coexist successfully with colleges and professional offices,” but then devolves very quickly. Here are the first two bullet points that follow that wonderful opener –
• As Baby Boomers age, a generational transition is
occurring, and older residents who wish to downsize find
few options in town.
• The town is nearly built-out under current zoning and
housing has become very expensive. Participants in the
planning process would like to see more diversity in town
and identified more affordable housing and different
kinds of housing as important to diversity.
A few things to ponder here. 1) Why do empty nesters need to be able to downsize AND stay in Wellesley? This makes no sense! Wellesley is a town for families with kids of school age. That’s why people move to Wellesley. I do not feel, and there is no way I’m alone here, that building housing for wealthy empty nesters should really be a priority for the town. The fact that is is the first bullet point on the Unified Plan is somewhat baffling.
2) I guess I’m confused about who exactly is saying that we “need” diversity in town. I think many people move to Wellesley specifically because it is not diverse. Think about it – if people wanted diversity, there are many, many towns in the greater Boston area that they could choose to live in. Why move to a town with little diversity, and then start blowing a trumpet and proclaiming how badly we now need diversity. Again, this makes little sense to me.
So what could possibly explain the fact that housing for empty nesters and housing for low income folks could end up being the top two priorities of the Unified Plan? I wonder, who is behind this plan exactly? it got me thinking.
Well it is certainly NOT people like me. 37 year old folks with young kids who busted their butt to be able to afford to live in Wellesley. People like me like the town the way it is — otherwise we would have moved elsewhere. People like my family are the ones driving around town on a daily basis, taking the kids here and there, trying to get to work, get to the grocery store, etc. What motivation could we as a group possibly have for jamming more housing into this confined space? The additional traffic loads that makes our life harder, the more crowded classrooms that make the schools less appealing — these things, who wants these things? Not people like me and I might argue that I am probably the most well represented demographic in the town.
So who then? Well I wonder. Who stands to gain from the increase in density? Well obviously, the wealthy homeowners that want to downsize, but simply MUST continue to live in Wellesley (this is bizarre to me – is Wellesley that great? You can live anywhere you want, but you choose Wellesley to live out your golden years?) and of course….the REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS. On the other hand, this group wanting density makes a lot of sense. This group stands to gain everything from more building, more density, but yet, stands to lose NOTHING. Some guy gets approval to build a 90 unit apartment complex on a quiet circle where there are currently 5 homes — 5 single family homes will be replaced with 90, I’m not making this up. So let’s think this through, who benefits?…Yes, some rich Wellesley homeowners who want to downsize, but can’t possibly stomach the thought of moving to another community – they will benefit. They get to sell their $2mm home, move into a $1mm one bedroom, pocket the difference and ditch the garden tools and maintenance headaches. Great trade. If I were one of those folks I’d be pretty psyched. What difference does it make to them if Linden Street no longer functions and the intersection at Linden and Weston backs up to Route 30? None – they have nowhere to go, they are retired! What difference does it make to them that the school classroom just got 20% more crowded? None, their kids are long gone.
Meanwhile, like 7 low income people will get tax payer subsidized units. Great for these folks, you bet!
Lastly, the developer – what does he get? Well he gets permission to build a monstrosity that simply does not belong. He gets the wheels greased left and right by the politicians that are forcing this density on the town. He gets to build a property that will negatively affect MOST town residents, pocket what is sure to be a handsome sum, and ride off into the sunset. Meanwhile, the people who make up the backbone of the town get all the downside.
Someone please explain to me how this makes sense. Someone please explain to me how adding density to accommodate empty nesters is really, truly a good idea?
The assault on Wellesley and our open spaces is shocking. It’s horrifying. People with families move to Wellesley because it’s a leafy suburb with some beautiful quiet streets and idyllic open spaces. I think we need to look closely at who exactly benefits from the increase in housing stock before we go and build things that won’t ever go away.