Wellesley Annual Town Meeting on night #3 on April 7 started with a warning about inappropriate behavior not being tolerated (after the moderator had been made aware of some allegations from a previous session) and a teaser about an amendment to an upcoming article related to the renovation of the Hunnewell tennis (and pickleball…) courts. Then it was on to Monday night’s business, including a nearly hour-long session about studying the possible installation of air conditioning at the town’s oldest school buildings. (See Wellesley Media recording for the whole meeting.)

Making school cool

In Article 18, which closed out the night’s proceedings, Wellesley Public Schools asked Town Meeting to approve $182,000 in spending on a feasibility study and related services to bring full air conditioning to the Bates, Fiske and Schofield Elementary Schools as well as Wellesley Middle School, which together house about 45% of the town’s students. The town’s newer school buildings already have full AC, according to a presentation by School Committee member Niki Ofenloch. Keeping students comfortable is considered important for their ability to learn.

The School Department had begun looking into this in 2018, got some funding for a study, but then when the pandemic hit, the topic got put on the back burner. With hotter temperatures continuing during the school year, the issue has reemerged over the past few years, including at past Town Meetings. The School Department has been hampered in its efforts to get precise data about temperatures in classrooms due to shortcomings of older building systems, but it can say that temperatures vary widely between classrooms and anecdotal stories of kids sweating it out are plentiful. Various steps are taken to keep kids and staff cool, from drawing shades to huddling in parts of the buildings with AC to taking hydration breaks.

Facilities Management Department Director Joe McDonough said a new study is needed because a lot has changed since the last one was done five years ago. HVAC technology has changed, he said, pointing to the adoption of heat recovery vs. heat pump systems as seen in the Hardy and Hunnewell Elementary Schools.

The town would explore three possible air conditioning options in the study, ranging from overlaying a new AC system over existing heating and ventilation systems to going the window unit route. Big challenges include the rising cost of AC systems, the logistics of installing systems during the short summer period that’s available when school’s out, and whether or not Americans with Disabilities Act requirements kick in based on the size of the project. Given the age of some of these schools, the town needs to look at making big investments in the oldest buildings vs. the possibility that they might not be long for this world.

From here, the Schools and FMD would need to come back to Town Meeting next year for design funds, then probably in late 2027 for construction funds (a debt exclusion—a one-time tax hike—could be required in the middle of that). It would remain to be seen when actual construction takes place depending on which AC option is chosen at each building.

Emails have been coming in droves to Town Meeting members in support of this article, which they say addresses an urgent health need. Some have raised questions about how AC upgrades would fit with the town’s greenhouse gas emissions goals.

During debate, about a dozen Town Meeting members shared reasons for supporting the article.

Among them was Ethan Davis, who relayed that teachers were spending their own money on box fans to cool off classrooms at Schofield, where the humidity could make it tough to write on moist paper. “The humidity and temperature make it unbearable to get learning done,” he said, quoting a teacher.

Kourosh Farboodmanesh, a Town Meeting member from Precinct E, rose in support of the motion, citing his 8th grade brother’s challenges in dealing with the heat in class. “I don’t know how we expect to educate the next leaders, the next entrepreneurs… when they’re just barely getting by trying to make sure that their sweat doesn’t fall onto their homework papers…,” he said.

The motion passed unanimously by voice vote.

Bravo for stormwater management fees

The introduction of the town’s stormwater management enterprise fund and accompanying fees sparked questions a couple of years back, as the notion of hitting taxpayers with another bill didn’t sit right with everyone.

But this time around, DPW Director David Cohen’s budget request under Article 14 for less than he asked for last year, and his assurance that the fee won’t be increased through FY29, elicited an attaboy from one Town Meeting member (“I commend Mr. Cohen for coming forward with a request that’s lower than the prior year. Bravo!”) and applause from the crowd.

CPC motions focus on ponds

Two motions under Article 16 from the Community Preservation Committee focused on possible investments by the town in its ponds, specifically, Morses Pond and lesser known Wight Pond, which is next to the Wellesley Farms train station.

The CPC was looking for $168K to fund a supplemental feasibility study, through the Facilities Management Department, regarding the long-discussed Morses Pond Beach and Bath House project. Among other things, the plans to date have included a vision for shifting the bath house from one side of the beach to the other.

The Natural Resources Commission’s Jay McHale explained that this request stems from work by the Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee launched last year to review this project ahead of a design phase for which Town Meeting last year approved $925K in CPC funds. The Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee raised questions on everything from the project’s scope to environmental permitting. McHale said that Town Meeting approval of the supplemental study could pave the way for construction of the project in 2027. (McHale has also explained the need for this study at various other meetings this year, including at an NRC meeting in January.)

The Morses Pond project could cost in the neighborhood of $9M (that figure includes some funds already appropriated). The CPC has committed to covering more than half, but a debt exclusion might come into play as well, as the town weighs this vs. other possible capital projects going forward.

Town Meeting members had a few questions and comments about the funding, but the motion passed easily 190-13.

A separate motion focused on the CPC taking on an administrative expense of $62,500 for the purpose of studies related to the town’s possible acceptance from a trust (adjacent land owners) of a 5.5 acre parcel of land including Wight Pond. The studies would look at current conditions and risks associated with the property.

Hugh Johnston of the Carisbrooke Wight Pond Trust shared background on the property, which includes the pond (there’s not a trail around the pond, but it can be accessed for fishing, bird watching, and skating). He said the property’s history goes back to a residential development that went bust at around the time of the Great Depression, and that later went into the hands of MIT, which sold the residential properties in the area. Those property owners shared ownership of the park, including the pond. But in light of a changing climate and the rainwater management involved in protecting the property, the trust began looking into turning the property over to the town, with the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust facilitating the possible change in ownership.

Town Meeting members who spoke to the motion were generally favorable, though some raised the question of what’s really in it for the town given the limited access (no parking, etc.) amidst the shrinking access to other open space in town (e.g., the full trail around Lake Waban). Town Meeting approved the motion 186-14.

Wight Pond, Wellesley Farms — Wight Pond

Tennis/pickleball courts

Town Meeting will resume on Tuesday with a series of Board of Public Works articles, including one for Weston Road reconstruction.

But the BPW article that’s been filling up email boxes and generating chatter within the community is Article 24, which proposes to sacrifice one of eight tennis courts to three pickleball courts as part of an overall court revamp (another pickleball court would go on the current hitting wall surface). Pickleball players support the location as one that will be convenient and less disruptive to neighbors, but the high school tennis program says it needs all the courts and that the loss of one could force a reduction in team sizes.

However, as of Monday there was an amendment to the motion in the works that the Natural Resources Commission, which is the land owner, is expected to take up. The idea would be to paint courts 7 and 8 with two pickleball courts each so that tennis could still be played on both courts. In talking with Wellesley High boys tennis coach Mike Sabin last week, he told me that there is a way to paint such lines without them being very disruptive to tennis players.