Wellesley Town election 2023: Natural Resources Commission candidates
The Town of Wellesley depends on the active participation of its citizens in governance of the Town. Wellesley has 11 Boards and Committees on the ballot at the Annual Town election each year in March. The 2023 election will be held on Tuesday, March 7.
There are three candidates running for two open 3-year positions on the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) Board.
It is the mission of the five-member NRC Board to provide stewardship of, education about, and advocacy for the Town of Wellesley’s parks, conservation, recreation and open space areas so the full value of the Town’s natural assets can be passed onto future generations.
The Natural Resources Commission candidates are:
McHale is finishing a 3-year term on the NRC, and D’Ortenzio has been serving since November, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the commission.
The Swellesley Report invited the candidates to answer a few questions about their priorities for the Town of Wellesley.
Candidate interviews appear in this post in the order in which their names appear on the ballot.
Martin Jay McHale
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Martin Jay McHale: I’ve lived in Wellesley over 15 years with my wife Shelley and our two boys. I’m semi-retired after 35+ years in financial services, and currently serve as chair for Action for Healthy Kids, a non-profit focused on nutrition, physical education and mental health partnering with schools around the country. I also co-chaired the “A Home of Our Own” campaign to purchase a permanent home for the Wellesley A Better Chance program back in 2020.
While the ballot will show me as Martin J. McHale Jr., everyone knows me as “Jay.”
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a Natural Resources Commission member?
Martin Jay McHale: I’ve proudly served on the NRC since 2020 and I am currently board chair. During this time, I have built collaborative relationships with the Select Board, Climate Action Committee, School Committee, and Planning Board, as well as developed effective working relationships with staff at the NRC, Wellesley Schools, Department of Public Works, and Wellesley Police. These relationships are key as we look to move several projects forward.
The NRC is integrally tied into the town’s Climate Action Plan, and we have already taken steps to align our work with the Climate Action Committee goals that align under Natural Resources. For example, I look forward to continuing the work with enhancing our tree canopy, improving our wetlands regulations, along with educating the public on environmental issues and how citizens can help. In addition, l look forward to working with the DPW as we address issues around the quality of drinking water and how we can better manage stormwater runoff.
In addition to supporting our Climate Action Plan, I will continue to advance the work of improving our active spaces in town. I feel that I have already been particularly influential in a few areas:
- Getting the aqueduct bathroom installed—this was a project that began in the early 2000s, failed twice at Town Meeting to obtain adequate funding, but was finally approved in 2021 and installed last fall.
- Doing initial research and being a full supporter of the current Active Field study that is underway.
- Collaborating with School Committee in a couple of areas—to navigate the numerous issues that caused the bathroom/team rooms project at Hunnewell Track & Field to stall since its approval at Town Meeting in 2018, as well as assisting in their efforts to install a multi-purpose practice wall and design/funding the bathrooms at Sprague Fields.
In addition to continuing the work outlined above, I will continue to support and advance the work to improve the Morses Pond area, support the Trails Committee as they look to improve the trails in town, in addition to the numerous programs promoting indigenous plantings for our parks and homes.
TSR: Lights have been a big topic of conversation related to NRC land in recent years. Now we’re hearing more questions raised about the use of sound on public land (from music to pickleball). What role do you foresee the NRC playing when it comes to sound?
Martin Jay McHale: The NRC plays a key role in both areas, especially given the Commission’s role in setting and managing policies. There are NRC lighting and sound policies already in place for fields under our control. As for the newly requested lighting on the Hunnewell Track & Field, School Committee drafted a lighting usage policy as part of their proposal, which the NRC has reviewed but will refine and vote on before the lights become operational.
As Board chair, I recently initiated a full review of our policy handbook, which guides the NRC in its oversight and decision making. This is being done one section at a time at our twice-monthly meetings to maximize transparency and give citizens the opportunity to participate in this process.
Many likely do not realize the authority which the NRC has—even over areas not under its direct control. This was written into the Act that created the committee in 1978:
“…(the NRC) shall study and make recommendations regarding the use, maintenance, management, preservation, and protection of the natural resources of the town which are under the jurisdiction of other boards.”
Since the question of sound affects not only NRC properties, but school properties as well, I have asked School Committee to work with us as well in addressing this issue. There are currently inconsistencies in how sound is treated between the two land stewards, especially on the larger fields (Bates, Schofield, Sprague and Hunnewell). I am hoping this collaborative approach with School Committee, which will certainly include neighbors of the fields, will result in workable solutions that could be applied town-wide.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Martin Jay McHale: Please reach out to me at mjmchalejr@gmail.com or join the campaign at electmchale.com. I humbly ask for your vote on March 7th.
Michael D’Ortenzio
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Michael D’Ortenzio: I grew up in Wellesley’s forests and open spaces. As a kid living near Morses Pond, the pond, the woods, and the North 40 were special places to explore and roam free. I was fortunate enough to get a great education in the Wellesley Public Schools, have the opportunity to go to college and law school, and recently to start practicing as a municipal attorney. In between, I have been involved in town government in various capacities including chairing the School Committee and Playing Fields Task Force, serving as vice chair of the Sustainable Energy Committee, and as a 10-year Town Meeting Member. I was also a member of the committees that oversaw the building of the new sports center at 900 Worcester Street and developed the town’s Unified Plan. On election days, you’ll often see me at Precinct A as a poll worker. I have been lucky to get to know the town and its government from many angles, and hope to leverage that perspective and my legal training to contribute to the preservation of Wellesley’s remaining forestland.
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a Natural Resources Commission member?
Michael D’Ortenzio: My vision for the NRC is to develop a comprehensive land conservation plan, with a focus on preserving the limited intact forestland we have left.
We have many opportunities to increase preservation. According to a report the NRC produced a few years ago, though 33% of Wellesley is open space, 50% of that open space is held privately with no long-term protection. And overall, only a mere nine percent of Wellesley is protected under Article 97 of the state Constitution. (Thanks to former NRC Commissioner Raina McManus, who pulled together this important data.) The 1978 special act that created the NRC explicitly empowers the Commission to “propose for acquisition by the town those natural resources that the commission deems useful or important.” Where there are large parcels of forest in town that the community reasonably desires to preserve, we should be acting now—not when a development is imminent and costs are high (like with the North 40). And preservation does not necessarily mean acquisition: easements, zoning, and other tools are at our disposal to further forest protection.
Keeping carbon in our trees is a big way the NRC can prevent more atmospheric carbon from changing our climate. By working with partners both inside and outside of local government, we can grow the amount of forestland conserved.
TSR: Lights have been a big topic of conversation related to NRC land in recent years. Now we’re hearing more questions raised about the use of sound on public land (from music to pickleball). What role do you foresee the NRC playing when it comes to sound?
Michael D’Ortenzio: The NRC must balance the needs of all our users and constituents, which includes managing sound appropriately. I see a distinction between sports-based sounds (e.g., the crack of a ball hitting a bat, a referee blowing the whistle) and amplified sound (e.g., graduation name announcements, pump-up music during practices). Generally, sports-based sound is incidental to the existence of playing fields. If that sound has increased substantially as a result of a new sport like pickleball, the town may consider limiting play to certain hours. Generally, though, my focus is on amplified sound. The reading of names at graduation is, of course, a necessity; pump-up music before practice less so. To find common ground on the use of amplified sound, the NRC cannot act alone. The management of Wellesley’s playing fields involves multiple entities (e.g., the NRC, School Committee, Playing Fields Task Force). We must work collaboratively with our partners to balance the needs of users as well as be good neighbors.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Michael D’Ortenzio: Please e-mail or call me anytime at mdortenziojr@me.com or (781) 801-4317, or visit my website at https://www.michaelfornrc.com/
Jaden Crawford
The Swellesley Report: Please introduce yourself to The Swellesley Report‘s readers.
Jaden Crawford: I moved to Wellesley with my family in 2010. Like many families we quickly fell in love with Wellesley’s outdoor spaces. We spend much of our free time enjoying Centennial Park, Hunnewell Fields, Morses and Longfellow Ponds, Town forest, and most of the town’s parks, playing fields, and 47 miles of trails.
We also spend a lot of time in our gardens and have slowly replaced most of the lawns with organic vegetable gardens, as well as native and ornamental gardens to support and enjoy local wildlife. One particular joy is maintaining milkweed and other native plants to support butterflies and other pollinators as a monarch butterfly way-station.
For over 17 years, I have worked to decarbonize the world’s electric grids. Early in my career, I built and operated renewable power plants. Since then I have focused on developing wholesale and retail electricity markets to integrate distributed energy resources (DER), such as smart thermostats, solar roofs, batteries, electric vehicles, and building management systems. I am currently the director of policy for a DER-focused energy retailer, where I lead our regulatory and policy engagement, and market development.
TSR: If elected, what do you hope to accomplish in your 3-year tenure as a Natural Resources Commission member?
Jaden Crawford: Three specific things I’d like to work on are:
- Improving the health of our tree canopy by implementing a distributed nursery. Much like the distributed energy model our power grids are moving toward, I believe that we can grow a meaningful percentage of the trees that we need by engaging with residents, gardening clubs, community gardens, schools, and houses of worship, to take part in growing our town’s trees.
- Working with other town boards and organizations to improve and increase the number of bicycle pathways. This will help reduce the carbon impact of transportation, which is a key issue in the town’s Climate Action Plan, and provide a healthy, safe way for Wellesley residents to travel through town.
- I’d like to work with organizations like the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, as well as volunteers to help identify, geo-tag, and inventory issues like tree loss, invasive species, and erosion on Wellesley land. This would enable a more fulsome, and up-to-date, view to enable remediation decisions.
TSR: Lights have been a big topic of conversation related to NRC land in recent years. Now we’re hearing more questions raised about the use of sound on public land (from music to pickleball). What role do you foresee the NRC playing when it comes to sound?
Jaden Crawford: The NRC has a primary role when it comes to sound on NRC property, and a meaningful voice regarding sound on other town property. The NRC charter specifically addresses sound and the impacts of sound on surrounding stakeholders. I would use the NRC charter as my guiding principal in any discussions or decisions regarding sound on public land.
TSR: How should voters reach you if they want more information?
Jaden Crawford: I’d love to talk with you about why I’m running, about what matters to you, or even about gardening. (Especially compost. I love compost.) Just sent me an email at jadenfornrc@gmail.com, or visit my website: jadenfornrc.org.
