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Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Reminder: Wellesley Reusables Area closes on Dec. 2

November 28, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Friends of Recycling volunteers who staff the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility’s Reusables Area (aka, Give & Take) share a reminder that the season ends this Saturday, Dec. 2. The area will reopen next April.

Hours for the Give & Take this week are 7am-12pm on Wednesday, then 7am-3pm on Thursday-Saturday.

During this last week, volunteers will only accept small items—so no large furniture.

From volunteers Joany Sasso & Priscilla Messing: “Thank you to the Wellesley residents and to all the FOR volunteers for a great and prosperous season!”

wellelsey rdf give and take opening week

If you’re looking for an RDF Reusables alternative during the off-season, a private Facebook group called Wellesley Give & Take is one option.


Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Environment, Volunteering

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Wonderful Wellesley, E.A. Davis
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Wellesley Planning Board encourages you to review revised flood hazard areas

November 10, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Flood insurance is wildly expensive, so you might want to check out the town of Wellesley Proposed FEMA Flood Zones Map, which may include proposed changes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to flood hazard areas that impact your property.

This information is included in recently developed Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Maps and Flood Insurance Study reports that also can be viewed on the Flood Map Changes Viewer (arcgis.com).

Proposed changes, if confirmed, will become the basis for floodplain management measures that Wellesley must adopt to remain qualified for the National Flood Insurance Program.

Any appeals to the determinations must be filed by Thursday, Nov. 30.

Data and information related to these appeals should be sent to Wellesley Planning Director Eric Arbeene at earbeene@wellesleyma.gov

 

wellesley flooding morses pond


Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Environment, Government

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
MassHort, Festival of Trees, Wellesley

Wellesley RDF Reusables Area slated to close after Dec. 2 (weather dependent)

November 6, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The last day for the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility’s Reusables Area (aka, give and take) this season is scheduled to be Saturday, Dec. 2.

RDF Director James Manzolini adds: “I also cannot emphasize enough that that open thru date is weather dependent.” In other words, bad weather ahead of that date could close it down earlier.

The Reusables Area is the spot at the RDF where people can leave and take things, giving new life to old stuff. It is largely managed by volunteers, and we thank them for their service this season.

You just never know what you might find at the Reusables Area (Lady Godiva gallops into the Wellesley RDF Give and Take area).

If you’re looking for an RDF Reusables alternative during the off-season, a private Facebook group called Wellesley Give & Take is one option.

wellelsey rdf give and take opening week


“Yup, it is Swellesley to Live in Wellesley”

A reader recently sent us a photo of this framed art, found at the Recycling & Disposal Facility’s Give & Take area, that reads: “Yup, it is Swellesley to Live in Wellesley.”

On the back of the painting is a marketing sheet (smart move) for the artist, dug Nap, who operates out of Vermont and whose website says his oils, acrylics and other work “defies categorization.”

We reached out to find out what possessed him to create this particular piece (I assured him that having your stuff recycled at the dump should be taken as a point of pride). Turns out Wellesley Holiday Boutique in Wellesley Square used to sell his prints.

 

dugnapart
Painting by dug Nap

 

Hat tip to reader Lynne Smith for passing this item along to us.


We also appreciate those who take our news to give back if they can…

Filed Under: Dump, Environment

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Wellesley exploring networked geothermal heating & cooling opportunities

November 2, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley’s multi-pronged effort to slash greenhouse gas emissions could one day include underground water-based networks for heating and cooling buildings that provide an alternative to traditional natural gas systems and better position the town’s resilience during times of extreme weather conditions and natural disasters.

The Climate Action Committee discussed at its Nov. 2 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording, about 10 minutes in) research conducted to look into possibly applying for a grant of up to $50,000 for studying the feasibility of setting up geothermal networks in the community.

Wellesley Sustainability Director Marybeth Martello’s team worked with the town’s GIS department and tapped consultants who have worked with other communities, including Framingham, that are  piloting geothermal networks. Martello said the team learned a lot about the most important criteria for networked geothermal, though concluded that Wellesley wouldn’t likely qualify for the HEET grant, which had certain requirements for supporting underserved communities and for matching funds (Martello said doing a feasibility study in Wellesley probably would have cost about $100,000 overall). While some locations might benefit from geothermal networks, setting them up in areas bisected by railroad tracks or highways would be impractical.


See also: Wellesley Climate Action Plan


“We learned from HEET that networked geothermal is viable in suburban communities,” Martello said, adding that conducting the research should position the town to better take advantage of future geothermal network opportunities.  “I think we found some potentially excellent places for geothermal to explore further.”

The town decided not to go the geothermal route with projects in recent years, such as the Town Hall renovation and building the new Hardy and Hunnewell Elementary Schools, in part due to high costs (not that geothermal networks might not pay off over time). School Committee member Catherine Mirick said during the Climate Action Committee meeting that she had recently learned of a Massachusetts School Building Authority effort to offer grants specifically for geothermal heating and cooling implementations, so the future is promising on this front.

Individual school projects might be one thing, but the town’s ambitions for geothermal networks serving broader resiliency goals would cover entire neighborhoods, where the economics of the new technology would be more attractive. Such networks could also make the town less reliant on the aging gas pipes whose leaks create health issues, and in fact a multi-community group that focuses on gas leaks soon plans to hold a session on geothermal networks.

Intertwined with such geothermal heating and cooling networks could be microgrids for electricity fueled through renewable energy resources that would make Wellesley less reliant on the ISO New England power grid. Such microgrids have been discussed in town as well, as we reported a few years back. Geothermal networks for heating and cooling would also require energy to run the pumps that make such systems go.

“When I look at the bigger picture,” said Climate Action Committee member Ellen Korpi (also with the Municipal Light Plant Board and Board of Public Works), “it’s not just a climate itssue. It’s so much of a resilience issue that I really worry about. We really need to all be looking at microgrids and more energy independence in Wellesley.”


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Filed Under: Environment

The Cashmere Sale, Wellesley

Cronk’s Rocky Woodland fall event—hot cider, donuts, adorable cottage

October 28, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Conservation Land Trust invites all on Saturday, Nov. 4, 3pm-4:30 pm, to explore its Cronk’s Rocky Woodland Sanctuary, 20 Crown Ridge Rd. Learn about the native plants and other features of this rocky woodland (what type of rocks are there in the “rocky woodlands,” anyway?).
Cronk's Rocky Woodland, Wellesley
The storybook cottage at Cronk’s Rocky Woodland includes an outdoor fireplace.
Meet up with neighbors and friends.  Gather around a fire at the outdoor fireplace. Drink hot cider and eat fresh donuts provided by Wellesley Whole Foods. Rather than put away Halloween attire, have the kids come in costumes.
Cronk’s was a gift of Gertrude Cronk to preserve the natural flora and landscape of this special rocky area in Wellesley’s College Heights area.

Filed Under: Environment, Gardens, Outdoors

Fran's Flowers

Mass Hort aims for better Elm Bank Reservation access

October 21, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which calls the Elm Bank Reservation on the Wellesley/Dover line its home, is seeking to improve public and emergency access to that location.

Mass Hort Executive Director James Hearsum and Board Chair Gretel Anspach have reached out to members seeking their support for this issue by asking them to reach out to the local legislature in support of a bill that would direct the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation to conduct a study of Elm Bank’s accessibility.

The bill reads in part: “The report shall consider, without limitation, the purchasing of private land and the maintenance, construction and rehabilitation of current state-owned land. The report shall also identify long term expansion and rehabilitation of the current Elm Bank Reservation to maximize public use…”

Access to Elm Bank is mainly limited to the one-way Cheney Bridge (limited to a 12-ton capacity, not sufficient for buses or large emergency vehicles), where backed up drivers don’t always play nicely.


Mass Hort hopeful that vacant Elm Bank manor house has lots of life left


Back access through private road Turtle Lane is limited to emergency access.

Among talking points shared by Mass Hort is that “any study of access to Elm Bank should explore alternative avenues, if any, over the river onto Elm Bank Reservation.”

Elm Bank use peaked in recent years during the pandemic, when people poured into the park as a place to get outside, in theory away from other people…

Access to the gardens at Elm Bank has evolved over the years. They were once freely open to the public, but Mass Hort in attempts to save the flowers and plants from loose dogs and in an effort to become more financially stable, put up fencing and started charging people. The surrounding park has remained freely accessible for soccer, walking, kayaking/canoeing, running, biking, and other activities.

cheney bridge elm bank
Cheney Bridge at entrance to Elm Bank Reservation

Please support your local news source, The Swellesley Report, by contributing or by becoming an advertising partner.

Filed Under: Environment, Gardens, Outdoors

Wellesley Girl Scouts raising recycling awareness

October 15, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley Girl Scouts Elise McDonough, Hadley Grover, and Vivi Dublin have worked with the Recycling & Disposal Facility to create an information pamphlet to pass out to people moving into Wellesley to make them aware of what the RDF offers. The scouts initiated the project to earn their Silver Award, a high honor that involves researching an issue, making a plan to address it, and then taking action to improve their community.

The scouts learned about how the RDF is able to convert recycled materials into funds for the community, and how the Reusables area allows people to keep items out of the landfill by making them available for others.

The pamphlet made by the scouts can be used by realtors to hand out to new residents as well as to businesses. The scouts also sent their pamphlet to the town’s Sustainability Committee for additional marketing support.

“Our main goal is to create awareness in our town about recycling options.  We wanted to educate new and existing residents about how great our RDF is in town.  We also wanted to educate businesses to recycle cardboard and plastic and not throw it away in the same dumpsters,” according to the scouts.

girl scout rdf pamphlet


Please support your local news source, The Swellesley Report, by contributing or by becoming an advertising partner.

Filed Under: Clubs, Environment

An hour in a Wellesley garden: the dahlias are in full bloom and they’re fabulous, dahling

September 26, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

To enter Wendy Pickering Bedrosian’s North 40 garden plot, I must first negotiate the tangle of chicken wire fencing. She pulls aside the barrier, and I’m allowed to pass. “I make this a fortress agains the bunnies,” she says. The treasure Wendy is protecting: over 400 dahlia tubers that throw up thousands of gorgeous flowers every year.

Wellesley dahlias
Wendy Bedrosian plants over 400 dahlia tubers each year in her North 40 garden plot.

Part hobby, part obsession, and part charitable endeavor, Wendy has been tending her 85ft. x 30 ft. Weston Road plot for over ten years. It started out innocently enough as a vegetable garden that she intended to work with her kids. Turns out the kids didn’t like gardening so, Henny Penny-like, she sighed and planted and harvested on her own. That’s the hobby part of the story. When she added a few dahlias about six years ago, she fell in love with the wide range of colors and varieties she could find. So the next year she put in a few more dahlias, then dozens more, then hundreds. That’s the obsession part of the story. “Now here we are and there are very few vegetables,” she shrugs.

The charitable part of the story is the best part. While the dahlias are in full bloom, which is mid-summer until the first frost, Wendy sells bouquets of at least a dozen stems of various sizes and color, along with some filler, for a minimum donation of $15. It should come as no surprise that a fancy florist would charge almost $100 for such bounty. Wendy harvests almost daily, and she makes sure every bloom is in peak condition. With names like Double Jill, Last Dance, Mojo, and Tailspin, there can be no disappointment in her choices. You will get gorgeous blooms. Full stop. Contact Wendy here to arrange for your own bouquet of dahlias, and for pickup details.

Wellesley dahlias
Pollinators are big fans of Wendy’s open-center dahlia varieties.

Last year, dahlia proceeds garnered more than $1,000 for two different charities. This year, Wendy is on track to $3,000 in donations, maybe more, since most people give more that the minimum donation, “which has been so generous,” she says.

Wendy switches the charity every week or two. This year she so far she’s donated to Wellesley ABC, and the Justice Health Initiative. Her most recent  efforts are going to raise money for a young woman who suffered a spinal cord injury in a cycling accident last year. Those funds will go toward buying expensive adaptive equipment not covered by insurance.

She doesn’t have any specific fundraising goals. There’s no giant novelty thermometer outside her North 40 plot, tracking philanthropic progress. “Whatever it does, it does,” she says.

Once the frost hits, the work continues. Wendy digs up the dahlia tubers each year, and they overwinter in an unfinished part of her basement that stays cold enough for the dormancy period they require. Last year that chore took place around the third week of October. One year the party kept going until Nov. 7, but that’s unusual.

Wellesley dahlias
This beauty came home with me to keep things cheerful on the kitchen windowsill.

Wendy sources her tubers from a lot of small farms, and also has gotten involved in dahlia Facebook communities. “I’ve made dahlia friends from all over the country. We do a lot of trading, which is really a lot of fun. Some of them are really rare and hard to get. It’s like collecting anything.”

Which is to say, an obsession. Once the charitable part of the growing season has past, she’s back on the hunt, scouting around online for coveted varieties. There’s always room for one more tuber in her dahlia beds. And Wendy doesn’t play favorites. “They’re like children, you don’t have a favorite one,” she laughs.

If you love the idea of introducing a few beautiful “flower children” into your home while supporting a worthy cause, contact Wendy for details. The dahlia stems I picked up last week are still going strong and were, of course, well worth the nominal donation.

More gardening stories

An hour in a Wellesley garden—we take a ride on the brand-new Morses Pond weed harvester

An hour in a Wellesley garden—it’s all organic on this country estate

An hour in a Wellesley garden—it’s up to us to eradicate the dreaded garlic mustard

 

Filed Under: Charity/Fundraising, Environment, Gardens

Wellesley track & field lights, bathroom updates shared

September 12, 2023 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Efforts to bring the Hunnewell track & field upgrades to fruition made significant progress over the summer, with proponents winding through a gauntlet of Wellesley Wetlands Protection Committee hearings and then being pleasantly surprised that they would not have to go through a Zoning Board of Appeals process for amending site plan approval and getting a special permit for lighting. However, not unexpectedly, the project has gotten pricier the longer its approval process has gone on.

School Committee member Linda Chow and Wellesley Town Engineer David Hickey shared updates with the School Committee on Sept. 5 (see Wellesley Media recording) and the Natural Resources Commission on Sept. 7 (see recording) as the new school year got underway. If all goes according to plan, construction on the lights/sound system and bathrooms/concession structures could take place over the winter for the sexy-sounding “Hunnewell Track & Field Phase II-A.”

The lights/sound and bathrooms/concession stand have been bundled into 1 phase, as of the start of the year, to try to minimize disruption of the area, while the planned team rooms have been designated for a later Phase II-B and will need to go through their own design and permitting process.

The School Committee had last been briefed on the project near the start of June, so there was plenty to catch up on 3 months later as the design and permitting process proceeded. This included the Wetlands Protection Committee voting in mid-July to amend an order of conditions for the property from 2022 to allow the light and sound system in addition to the previously approved bathrooms and concessions structures. As for the bathrooms and concession structures, each will be 21 x 26 feet in size. One structure will feature 3 gender-neutral bathroom stalls plus the concession stand, the other just bathrooms, with 6 toilets and 4 urinals—at 1 point early in the planning process, some 29 stalls were envisioned. The former will get used regularly, the latter only for major events.

Among the highlights of the Wetlands amendment to the order of conditions are conducting pre- and post-construction baseline measures of habitat and ambient lighting to make comparisons against later on, and tracking that lighting usage doesn’t exceed an agreed-upon limit of 100 hours per year. Proponents went through the Wetlands process following Design Review Board sessions earlier in the year.

The permitting process hasn’t come cheap, with engineering firms, lawyers, and other consultants all hitting paydirt. Chow said the accrued and expected expenses here will total more than $62K, which is covered by the private fundraising efforts of the Wellesley Field Fund.

Remaining costs are estimated at nearly $1.1M, which would include the actual bathroom and bathroom/concessions stand structures, lighting, and sound systems, plus installation. This would be after applying more than half a million dollars appropriated by Town Meeting in 2018. ($635K more is estimated to be required to pay for team rooms in Phase II-B, though that figure is from last year, so needs to be updated.)

“There has been some pretty significant cost escalation,” Chow told the NRC.

hunnewell track and field project costs

Costs presented by the School Committee and Department of Public Works

 

During her update on home turf at the School Committee, Chow said: “We’ve had a conversation with members from the Field Fund, and they’ve raised a substantial amount already.” She added that Field Fund monies plus in-kind services and contributions from youth sports leagues should all cover the $1.1M in time for the town to put the project out for bids.

According to the Field Fund, they’re collecting pledges to cross the $1M mark and are seeking additional pledges and support for Phase II-A and B. The Fund has received contributions from about 800 donors.

“Our immediate goal is to raise enough to close any existing gaps in support so that WPS/DPW can order and install as much of the project as possible (including lights) for use in Spring 2024,” according to email received from the campaign organizers.

Under a best case scenario, the town would seek bids this fall and get building permits. It could be installing the light and sound system over the winter, along with foundations for the bathrooms/concession stand, with completion of the bathrooms over the summer. There were few questions about the update from the School Committee.

In the meantime, before bids go out this fall (as hoped by proponents), the NRC would need to approve the final plan. Though by the time Chow and Hickey appeared at the NRC meeting on Sept. 7, they acknowledged no decision would be made that night. The School Committee last summer eked out a 3-2 change-of-use approval by the NRC for its track and field lighting proposal.

Chow and Hickey shared similar information with the NRC as they did with the School Committee, though added details on more NRC-ish topics, such as the removal and addition of trees, and plans to start debriefings with neighbors and other members of the public as soon as the end of this fall sports season to get a real sense of the latest issues that arise around track and field use. They also shared a rendering of where the light poles will stand outside the track around the 10-15-yard area of the playing field, and explained plans for a more distributed yet focused sound system that Hickey said should improve quality and limit the distance sound travels.

rendering of hunnewell lights
Rendering of light poles shared by town with the NRC on Sept. 7

Let There Be Write: Please support your local news source.

Filed Under: Environment, Sports

Tour the historic Hunnewell Estate with the Wellesley Historical Society

September 12, 2023 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Join the Wellesley Historical Society for a 90-minute walking tour to explore both the past and present of the Hunnewell Estate’s unique horticultural collection.

We toured Wellesley’s most iconic property several years back and can tell you it is a not-to-be-missed opportunity. Horatio Hollis Hunnewell, who made his millions in railroads, mining, real estate, and other business ventures, built the house in the early 1850s as the country estate for his wife, Isabella Pratt Welles, for whom the town is named, and their nine children. (The interior of the house is not part of the tour.) Mr. Hunnewell was an extraordinary horticulturist, credited with — among other things — popularizing rhododendrons in the United States.

Hunnewell mansion, Wellesley
Hunnewell estate, spring 2023

Highlights of that past tour of the 32-acre property for us were the pinery, the topiary garden, and the variety of rare trees.

DATE: Saturday, September 23, 2023

TIMES:
Morning tour: 9:15am-11:45am
Afternoon tour: 12:15am-2:25pm

COST: This is a ticketed event. $75 per person. Space is limited to 24 participants per tour. Tickets here.

MEETING LOCATION: Putnam Building, Elm Bank Reservation–900 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA. Transportation will be provided from Elm Bank to the Estate. All tour participants must utilize the provided transportation.

GOOD TO KNOW: 
The tour route includes uneven terrain.
There is no restroom access on the Estate. There will be restrooms available before and after the tour at the Elm Bank meeting location.

QUESTIONS: email Wellesley Historical Society’s Executive Director, Taylor Kalloch at director@wellesleyhistoricalsociety.org.

Proceeds from the Tour support the Society’s general operating fund.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Environment, Gardens

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