The team behind a proposed assisted living and memory care facility at the top of Pond Road on the Natick/Wellesley line continues to make the rounds at government bodies in both towns. Most recently, the 200 Pond Rd., team has visited with the Wellesley Board of Health (Oct. 5) and Planning Board (Aug. 7), while the topic has also made it onto Natick Open Space Advisory Board and Conservation Commission agendas in recent months.
Now it will return to the general public, with a community outreach meeting at Natick High School’s auditorium (15 West St.) on Nov. 15 at 6pm in the Lebowitz Meeting Hall or via Zoom (Meeting ID: 836 4490 9014; Passcode: 781787). The project team describes the meeting as an opportunity for the community, town officials, and Town Meeting members to learn more about the proposed facility and ask questions. (Note: The meeting originally was planned for Morse Institute Library.)
The proponents’ pitch is that both towns are in dire need of assisted living and memory care facilities for an aging population, and that this location will be a handy one for the proposed 130-unit facility and a nice setting for residents. Direct neighbors on Pond Road have raised traffic, environmental, and other concerns, having already seen the top of that scenic road changed considerably by the building of two large homes on the properties next to where this senior living facility would be located.
The driveway for the property is in Wellesley, though the building itself would be in Natick at the site of a current mansion. The project team says plans are for nearly half the property to be placed within a conservation restriction. The team has also outlined traffic mitigation plans in an attempt not to overrun Pond Road.
Proponents of the project earlier this year pulled back on a Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting citizen petition for a zoning change that could pave the way for the facility in the face of negative public feedback and a Natick Planning Board decision not to vote for favorable action on the article. Now the team is back with a revised plan.
200 Pond Rd. is located about a mile from Natick’s newish Anthology senior living facility.
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