Future of Wellesley fire stations: Easy as 1, 2, (3?)

Select Board hears fire station update, plus approves Pond Road conservation restriction, names Boston Marathon bib charity organizations, hears from public on MassBay plans

 
Wellesley has two fire stations, a nearly 100-year-old one in the middle of town (est. 1928), and another that’s probably older than most think on Rte. 9 (est. 1988). The town is working on a master plan to figure out what the future should hold for the Fire Department, taking into consideration possible growing needs for public safety in parts of town where more housing is being built.

The Select Board heard an update this past week on an emerging master plan from fire personnel as well as a consulting firm (the presentation can be found attached to the Select Board’s Dec. 2 agenda and viewed via the Wellesley Media recording of the meeting about an hour-and-a-half in).

An earlier update was presented to the Board on Oct. 7, and included findings that Wellesley is lacking in fire station space—the Wellesley Square one, for example, can’t accommodate large modern vehicles (see summary in meeting minutes). Upgrades are also needed to make the stations safer for firefighters, such as for removing contaminants from their gear after calls, and make space flexible enough to accommodate equipment that might become essential in the future.

Consultant Context’s Jeff Shaw led the presentation, which included reviews of response time and operational analysis, as well as laying out possible station sites and configurations.

Wellesley Fire’s current response time, just over 4 minutes for 90% of incidents, is considered very good. Call volumes have increased each of the last 10 years (except for 2020 at the height of the pandemic), and the largest number of calls come from the college campuses, multi-family residences, and medical facilities.

 
Call volumes are expected to continue growing, especially as more development comes online on the eastern side of town (the Nines and other new housing units, including possibly across from MassBay). So more Fire Department resources would be needed, according to the consultancy, and demand would be dictated in part by the nature of developments (assisted living vs. condos, for example) .

One finding, not surprisingly, is that a third station, or sub-station, might someday be needed. Call volume and response time data based on fire industry safety standards could trigger such a need.

“In a master planning context we want to be careful about saying something is needed, because it may not be needed today, it might be needed down the road…,” Shaw said. The plan would provide the town with a mechanism for tracking fire services demand in a way that would warn it about when new resources might be required.

Fire Chief Steve Mortarelli said the Master Plan is looking 20 or 30 years out, but also focuses on immediate needs, like shortcomings of the Wellesley Square station that will require a new one being built.

Board members raised questions about assumptions the Master Plan team is making about potential population growth and necessary fire services.

Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods said she was encouraged by the response times based on current locations and wondered if renovations at them could support even increased call volume. Indeed, that would be among the scenarios explored.

The master plan working group has developed scenarios that could involve some mix of renovating station 2 (Rte. 9), rebuilding station 1 (Wellesley Square), and adding a substation on the eastern side of town. Some scenarios would require swing space, and all would look to balance allocation of engines and ladder trucks to best serve the community. All look to relocate headquarters from Rte. 9 to the west side of town, possibly at an expanded Wellesley Square station.

The idea of a third station is daunting in terms of cost, especially in light of property taxes continuing to soar and a raft of capital projects in the wings (a Town-wide Capital Planning Committee is in the works to address such projects).

Board member Tom Ulfelder asked about whether the Fire Station Master Plan is being coordinated with the Department of Public Works Campus Master Plan, also set to come before the Select Board. “I just don’t think that we’re using Municipal Way efficiently,” he said referring to the property that currently is home to the Fire Station, Municipal Light Plant, and DPW. “I can’t imagine we’re having two parallel studies taking place without a significant interaction between them so that one doesn’t preclude the best use for the other.”

Shaw said the two uses have been discussed repeatedly during working group meetings. Glenn Remick, project manager for the Facilities & Management Department, concurred, and said no scenarios are off the table yet.

Ulfelder earlier in the meeting stressed the town’s fiscal responsibility to be certain of any potential need to acquire land or invest in new stations. Proactive steps, such as working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, for example, could be explored to address traffic challenges at William Street, where The Nines is located.

The Master Plan team will be coming back to the Select Board in the future with a ranking of sites and configurations, as well as information on timelines and costs for different scenarios.

Board Chair Marjorie Freiman thanked the team for its work.

“If we’ve learned anything from the last 20 years it’s that you have to think ahead for your facilities needs…,” she said. “It would be really nice if everything was going to stay exactly the way it is today, but we know that that’s just magical thinking.”
 

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Also at the meeting:

• The Board voted to stick with a single property tax rate (See “Wellesley property tax rate falls, bills to rise”). That rate’s down, but because of rising property values, tax bills continue to rise.
• The Board approved a conservation restriction for 50 Pond Rd., a roughly 2-acre Hunnewell family property valued at more than $2m. The restriction, held by Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, ensures additional protected space along one of the town’s most scenic roads. Select Board member Colette Aufranc pursued whether it might be possible for public access on this land adjacent to the Sudbury Aqueduct and Hunnewell farm, but the land owner wouldn’t agree to this.
• The Board voted to approve a slew of non-profits that will receive invitational Boston Marathon bib entries that they can dole out to runners pledging to raise at least $5k. A handful of bibs also go to town public safety employees and those running for the town’s War Memorial Scholarship Fund. The non-profits selected: Community Fund for Wellesley, Community Investors, Elizabeth Seton Residence, Friends of the Council on Aging, Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries, Friends of Wellesley METCO, Friends of Wellesley Veterans, Inc., MassBay Community College Foundation, Sustainable Wellesley, Wellesley A Better Chance (ABC), Wellesley Community Children’s Center, Wellesley Education Foundation, Wellesley Food Pantry, Wellesley Friendly Aid, Wellesley Historical Society, Wellesley Neighbors, Wellesley Scholarship Foundation, Wellesley War Memorial Scholarship Fund,  and World of Wellesley.
• A series of residents opened the meeting during the Citizen Speak portion to share their opposition to state plans to declare MassBay forest property as surplus. The board also received kudos for exploring possible legal action. Wellesley Trails Committee Chair Ezra Englebardt said the group will lead a walk at the MassBay Forest and adjoining Centennial Reservation on Dec. 13 at 10am, leaving from the MassBay parking lot on Oakland Street.

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