Leading a group of hikers by the Weston Community Gardens on Wellesley’s North 40 land, Rick Mongeau, a Wellesley Trail Committee volunteer and town resident, paused and asked his group to take a moment of appreciation, “to really enjoy what we have here.” The Sept. 18 hike, a part of the Wellesley Trail Committee’s Fall 2026 Guided Hike series and regular programming, comes at a time of uncertainty for the land’s future following proposed development on the recreation site.

Barbara McMahon, a member of the Wellesley Community Preservation Committee, and 35-year resident of Wellesley, said the North 40 “has been open space for as long as you know, a lot of people can remember.”

“Over time, the assumption has been that it is open space, that it’s just open parkland,” she said.

 
The town bought the 46 acres from Wellesley College in 2014 for $35 million, according to government records. Under the purchase agreement, half of the land must remain open space. However, McMahon said, it was “not the assumption” of the town that the other half “would just remain open space.” The North 40 land currently features walking trails, a vernal pool and the Weston Road Community Gardens.

It has been eight years since the town last held public meetings focused on development of the North 40 (there have been meetings about defining conservation restrictions within it). The process of development and conservation has started and stalled over the 12 years since the town bought the land.

COVID-19 hampered progress from 2020-2021 as attention moved to supporting the remote operation of town government and over the next few years the Select Board determined it “would rather stay flexible to emerging needs,” like the 2024 construction of the Hardy Elementary School, rather than focus on the North 40.

The land is once again under consideration for development since the Wellesley Fire Department proposed two locations in the North 40 as potential spots for a new fire station, at the Select Board’s June 3 meeting.

In an interview after the hike, Mongeau, speaking in a personal capacity not on behalf of the Trails Committee, said he was surprised and had “never thought about the Fire Department,” using the North 40 land.

He said he hopes “the town really truly investigates” whether the new fire station is “a need or want.”

The key points of the Fire Department’s year-long study conducted in partnership with consultancy Context Architecture were reviewed at the Select Board’s Sept. 15 meeting, including: the need to replace the nearly 100-year-old Station 1 in Wellesley Square, the relocation of “certain operations and administrative staff…from Station 2 [on Rte. 9] to a new headquarters” and an affirmation that two locations on the North 40 property received the highest site analysis scores among land reviewed for potential new locations (see Wellesley Media recording of Sept. 15 meeting).

Mongeau said the North 40’s walking trails are a “real highlight of Wellesley.”

Conserving them is of the utmost importance, he said.

David Campbell, a resident and self-described “frequent hiker of the town’s trails” who attended the event Friday said he “only just heard about [the development of the North 40] today.” He said he “hopes the town chooses not to take the land” while acknowledging lawmakers “need to do what they have to do.”

“I think that things can coexist over there,” McMahon said. “I think we could have a new fire station, and community gardens” and “maybe some units of affordable housing,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s an all or nothing thing,” McMahon said.

Mongeau said he is “open minded” to the affordable housing plan, however, he stressed his support is strictly for the construction of affordable housing, and said he “would not support condos that cost more than half the houses in Wellesley.”

McMahon said she thinks there are “not too many topics more important to a community than public safety and this is a big public safety issue.” And said she hopes the town “can come to a consensus and maybe a compromise on what happens there.”

The town is hosting a public meeting with the Select Board and other town leaders on Oct. 1 at the high school to discuss future uses of the land.

More detailed information regarding the Fire Station Master Plan is posted on the town’s website.

This story is part of a partnership between the Swellesley Report and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.