The 2024 Wellesley Special Town Meeting warrant covers a range of funding, authorization, and zoning topics focused on everything from HVAC improvements to personal property taxation, but housing-related articles are the real headliners.
The warrant contains the 18 articles—with one or more motions to be fleshed out under each—to be considered and voted on by Town Meeting, Wellesley’s legislative body. The motions under the articles will be fleshed out in coming weeks.
Special Town Meeting starts at 7pm on Monday, Oct. 21 at the high school, and is expected to last at least few nights (see last year’s coverage of Special Town Meeting, which lasted two nights).
Wellesley’s town leaders are counting on Town Meeting to pass motions under very long Article 15, which contains proposed zoning bylaw changes that will enable the town to comply with the state’s MBTA Communities Act by a year-end deadline. Town Meeting approved articles in the spring that got Wellesley partway to compliance with the law, aimed to address the state’s housing shortage by encouraging more building near public transportation stations. The articles focus on making it easier to build taller and denser multi-family housing projects, and clarify site plan review requirements.
Approval of Articles 16 and 17 could pave the way for multi-family projects under residential overlay zoning at Washington Court and Walnut Street in Lower Falls (see our earlier coverage of these housing proposals).
A proposed amendment (under Article 13) to the town’s development agreement with Linden Square could also have a housing impact, as we recently reported.
A citizen petition also seeks to extend the demolition delay from 12 to 36 months for old homes in an effort to further discourage tear downs of houses 125 years old or older.
All of these changes, or not, will then play into the town’s emerging strategic housing plan designed to ensure Wellesley has a variety of housing options available to existing and future residents.
Other notables articles on Town Meeting’s plate:
- Article 3 focuses on a big HVAC improvement at the Warren Building (90 Washington St.), home of the Health and Recreation departments.
- Article 7 on the latest from the Community Preservation Committee
- Article 8 covers more parking lot improvements at the police station
- Article 11 establishing $10K as the minimum for personal property subject to taxation
- Article 12 proposes creating a local cultural council
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