A sampling of Wellesley, Mass., meetings and agenda items for the week of April 6, 2026:
Select Board (April 6, 6pm, high school)
Vote to Appoint Special Counsel to assist with Elective Pay and Inflation Reduction Act; Annual Town Meeting Preparation
Annual Town Meeting continues (April 6, 7pm, Wellesley High School)
Night #3 of town legislative body session.
Select Board (April 7. 4pm, high school)
Executive Session: M.G.L. c. 30A, § 21(a)(3), to conduct strategy with respect to potential litigation regarding 40 Oakland Street; Executive Session: M.G.L c. 30A §21(a)(3) to conduct strategy with respect to negotiations with the Wellesley Free Library Staff Association and Wellesley Free Library Supervisor Association; Return to Open Session: Administrative Matters • Appoint Members to Affordable Housing Trust • Annual Town Meeting Preparation
Design Review Board (April 8, 6:30pm, online)
Sign hearings for Rani Mahal restaurant, Sit Still Kids Salon; Major Construction at 16 Laurel Ave. (condo project)
Permanent Building Committee (April 9, 7:30pm, online)
Agenda to come
YES, sign me up for Swellesley’s free weekday email newsletter
Why does this town and many other surrounding towns enjoy destroying living, breathing wild life habit, the beautiful trees that provide oxygen to us, and house wildlife? . The beautiful land and trees need to be protected. Not just parts of it All of this land.
Do the property’s 5 acres of underutilized asphalt need to be protected? If not, let’s use the fact that the state wants to build housing on those 5 acres as leverage to ensure that the 40 acres of forest are protected. That’s what I call a win-win.
on saving the MassBay forrest
to quote Mary Oliver:
“it is one of the perils of our so-called civilized age that we do not yet acknowledge enough, or cherish enough, this connection between soul and landscape– between our own best possibilities and the view form our own windows.
we need the world as much as it needs us….
Without the wilderness no fish could leap and flash, no deer could bound soft as eternal waters over the field; no bird would open its wings and become buoyant, adventurous, valorous beyond even the plan of nature. Nor could we.”
Yes. So let’s build the housing on the parking lot, just as the state is planning to do, and not on the forest, like so many people seem to think will happen. With a well-crafted RFP, building on the parking lot should enhance the “connection between soul and landscape,” for residents new and old.