The Wellesley Select Board on Sept. 9 voted to give Atwood Street residents some traffic/parking relief and previewed Special Town Meeting articles (see Wellesley Media recording to review meeting in more detail).

Atwood Street relief

Residents of Atwood Street, a classic cut-through between the Whole Foods store/State Street and Wellesley Avenue, have been under siege for some time on the traffic front. A few years back they rallied to get their voices heard regarding parking lot plans at Whole Foods that would affect access to their street. In recent years, the rise of the Star Academy private school at the former St. Paul School site (and beyond) has resulted in a new batch of traffic and parking challenges.

Residents have been working with the town, police, and the school to try to address concerns through meetings, surveys, and observations. The Select Board on Tuesday unanimously approved amended traffic regulations. The focus is on nixing all-day parking on the southerly side of Atwood between Morton Street and Wellesley Avenue on weekdays (7:30am-1pm) during the school year. This is designed to address issues related to school traffic and parking but also allow residents to coordinate parking for those providing services at their homes.

Neighbors who spoke said the change should make a positive difference on their street, which can become backed up and impassable, and are glad that the town is looking to address additional concerns as well.

“Although no parking is allowed on the north side of Atwood Street and hasn’t been for the last at least 30 years, Atwood Street is too narrow to allow easy passage of two-way traffic when the parking area [on the south side] is occupied, especially when one of the vehicles is a large delivery truck or an emergency vehicle like a fire truck,” said resident Susan Clapham, who added that parked cars also regularly block driveways.

Select Board member Colette Aufranc offered words of encouragement to residents by relaying that her neighborhood once faced a similar situation and did see improvement after going through a process with the town (“It was miraculously helpful”).

Special Town Meeting preview

The Select Board went over a handful of articles in preparation for Special Town Meeting, which is set to kick off on Nov. 3 at the high school.

Rescinding borrowing authorization, an always popular topic, is the subject of Article 4. The town is receiving more than $751,000 in Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funds that will cover expenses that the borrowing would have covered for the new Hardy Elementary School, and Town Executive Director Meghan Jop said more reimbursement could be on the way ahead of Town Meeting.

The Select Board also welcomed the School Committee’s Linda Chow and Natural Resources Commission’s Jay McHale for an update on the planned team rooms at the Hunnewell track and field complex (those two have recently been sharing updates with their respective town bodies as well). The School Committee seeks funds for this project, which has been in the works for a long time in various configurations. While this is a School Committee article, the Select Board received an update to better understand not just capital costs but potential operating costs as it develops a balanced budget, said Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman. Chow said the need for team rooms goes back to cuts made in the Wellesley High School design process from 2008 in order for the town to secure MSBA funds.

Select Board members asked questions about the project, from inclusion of showers to possible support for multimedia capabilities, that could also come up during the Advisory Committee vetting process ahead of Special Town Meeting. The team rooms are anticipated to be operational in about a year, Chow said.

The Board also discussed article 10, which would establish an account for monies received through settlements with manufacturers to address PFAS (aka, forever chemical) issues in the town water supply. This is somewhat like the opioids settlement funds situation, though requires additional approvals within town to expend the funds, and setting up a separate PFAS account would be a clean approach to doing this, Jop said. This would likely start with a few hundred thousand dollars. This article is sponsored by the Select Board and Board of Public Works.