To the editor:

Now that Housing Secretary Ed Augustus has confirmed the Commonwealth’s willingness to preserve 40 acres of forest adjacent to the MassBay campus, it’s time for Wellesley’s Select Board to reconsider its threatened lawsuit and reschedule the visioning session it cancelled back in December.

For months, residents have expressed concern that the state intended to develop the wooded parcel. But Augustus told the Boston Globe this week that the state is willing to place the woods under a long-term conservation restriction and are seeking housing only on a 5-acre parking lot on Oakland Street.

“To us, that’s a win-win-win proposition,” Augustus said. “We get the housing that we need as a state and they as a community need. They get to protect this forested area which … is not protected now. And the college gets the revenue that comes from the sale of the property that helps advance some of their goals and strategic plans.”

Litigation would be costly, divisive and likely to delay the creation of much-needed housing identified in the town’s 2025 Strategic Housing Plan. It would also risk undermining a potential agreement that could both protect open space and support MassBay’s future.

Rescheduling the planned visioning session would create an opportunity for a community-wide conversation about the look, feel and type of housing. It would also allow for a discussion of traffic mitigation and other concerns that have been overshadowed by the no-longer-a-concern forest discussion.

With a workable compromise in sight, the responsible course is to pursue it rather than escalate conflict. Saving the MassBay Forest was always the community’s top priority. The forest has been saved! Now it’s time to close this chapter, come together and move forward in a spirit of cooperation that reflects the very best of Wellesley.

Sincerely,
Greg Reibman
Charles River Chamber, president & CEO