The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

2 chances to meet Wellesley’s town-wide office candidates

by Leave a Comment

You have 2 upcoming chances to meet Wellesley’s town-wide office candidates for the Annual Town Election on Tuesday, March 7:

Sustainable Wellesley’s Conversation With The Candidates: Monday, Feb. 13

​sustainable wellesleySustainable Wellesley is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that focuses on climate and other issues related to protecting the environment.

It will be holding a Conversation with the Candidates on Monday, Feb. 13 from 7-9pm at the Wakelin Room at the Wellesley Free Library. Come hear where candidates stand on issues related to sustainability.

 

 

The League of Women Voters of Wellesley’s Meet the Candidates Night: Thursday, Feb. 16

League of Women Voters of Wellesley

The League of Women Voters of Wellesley’s Meet the Candidates Night will be held virtually on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7pm. Learn about candidates for town-wide office and hear their positions on issues of importance to the town. The event will be live-streamed, broadcast live on Comcast 8/Verizon 40, and will be recorded for on-demand viewing.

The League is a nonpartisan political organization which does not support or oppose candidates.

Voters are invited to submit questions for candidates by email: lwvwellesley2@gmail.com by 5 pm on Feb. 15.  Questions will be screened for lack of bias, relevance, and applicability to all candidates for each office.  Similar questions may be consolidated.

There will be no print version of the League’s Election Guide this year.  The Guide will be posted by February 16 to the League’s Election Guide platform, vote411.org, where voters can also find personalized election information on how and where to vote. Information about The Meet the Candidates Night event, the Election Guide and other election-related material may be viewed on the League’s website, and on the Town Clerk’s website.

Separately, League of Women Voters of Wellesley members Skye Jacobs (Wellesley High ’24, Town Meeting member) and Ivy Wang (Wellesley High ’24, Town Meeting member) organized a voter registration event at Wellesley High School.  Two of the first-time voters will be turning 18 only a few days before the election.

One student said, “I’m too young to vote but my parents rely on me to research the candidates for them.”

students registration
Skye Jacobs (left, standing), Ivy Wang (right, standing). Seated in background: Volunteers Amelia Cookson and Katie Passanisi. Foreground: 2 students registering to vote. (Photo courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Wellesley)

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

Advertisements:

Linden Square, Wellesley
 
EXPLO, Wellesley

Wellesley Town Meeting has full plate: Stormwater fund, equity audit, a Hardy helper & more

by Leave a Comment

Wellesley Town Meeting, when it meets starting on March 27 at the middle school in person for the first time since pre-pandemic days, will have 47 articles and who knows how many motions to decide upon.

You can wade through the articles yourself below, plus get a richer understanding by checking out the Advisory Committee’s hearing on the articles on Thursday, Feb. 9.

We saw no big surprises on the warrant, though plenty for Town Meeting to chew on.

While about half of the articles come from the Select Board, the Board of Public Works will keep Town Meeting busy with a handful as well. These include approval for funding an Enterprise Stormwater Utility Fund to enable Wellesley to more fairly pay for handling stormwater in light of increased rules for doing so. This effort has been in the works for the past couple of years. The fund will result in yet another bill for property owners, though the Department of Public Works has tried to soften the blow for many by pointing to a set-up that will result in colleges and other big property owners paying more for such services than they have under the current system. Also on tap from Public Works is an article to fund a huge project to reconstruct, rehab and repair Weston Road this summer.

Article 17 pairs adoption of an anti-racism and anti-bias resolution and funding of a $100K equity audit. The audit will establish a baseline to understand how racism and unconscious bias might affect town polices and practices, and help to develop a path forward to address such issues.

Town Meeting may or may not be asked to approve more funding for the Hardy Elementary School construction project, as the latest bidding amounts, per School Committee member Melissa Martin at a recent meeting, have come in lower than expected. More data will become available between now and Town Meeting, but to play things safe, Article 19 from the School Committee and Permanent Building Committee has been included on the warrant. (See also: “Hardy School in Wellesley within budget—for now”).

There’s 1 citizen petition on the warrant, and it seeks to pause installation of new field or court lights on public land until a committee is formed to analyze the costs and benefits associated with adding lights. A private fundraising effort to cover the cost of light installation at Hunnewell track & field is well underway after a contentious decision-making process regarding light installation. The Natural Resources Commission last year approved a School Committee plan to add lights.

Other articles deal with topics such as greener building standards, more accessible public housing, a big battery storage system, extending the term of office for the moderator from 1 year to 3, and putting more teeth into wetlands violations.

Download (PDF, 1.1MB)

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
Wellesley Lacrosse

Rep. Peisch to address 1 of the great mysteries: How our laws are made

by Leave a Comment

The Massachusetts Legislative Process: How Our Laws Are Made

State Rep. Alice Peisch, WellesleyJoin state Rep. Alice Peisch as she explains the life cycle of a bill through committee and beyond, and how you can advocate for policy change. The event takes place on Saturday, Feb 4, 11am-12:30pm, at Wellesley Free Library’s main branch (530 Washington St.)

This presentation is free and open to the public.

Registration is appreciated.

Sponsored by The League of Women Voters of Wellesley

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

Sara Campbell, Wellesley

Does Wellesley need a new traffic light? Slow down before you drive to any conclusions

by 1 Comment

The Town of Wellesley is mulling over the pros and cons of installing a traffic light at what might be the toughest meeting place in town—the Cedar, Hastings, and Hunnewell intersection. That challenging area near Fiske Elementary School brings not only upwards of 7,000 vehicles a day, but a lot of baggage to the discussion on what do do with them all.

As things stand right now, the Town must decide if installing a traffic light would be significantly beneficial in this complicated location, and they’re looking for residents’ input. Share your thoughts at a Zoom meeting on Monday, Jan. 30 at 6:00 p.m. Please sign up in advance.

intersection hunnewell hastings

Where the rubber meets the road

In a report from the town’s Traffic Committee, a laundry list of challenges at the busy roadway were ticked off. Poor sight lines. The awkward geometry of the roadway. Ingrained behaviors of those who travel the route.

The town has looked at installing a mirror to aid drivers. Apparently, that wouldn’t be pretty. “A mirror is not a solution at this location based upon the sight distance, speed and volume of vehicles,” the Traffic Committee said in its report.

How about a roundabout? The research suggests that could work for the nameless, faceless 7,000 who zip through the current intersection daily. But for the six Wellesley homeowners who would have to give up significant land to the town to make a roundabout work? Not so much.

What about speed bumps? The Wellesley Traffic Committee isn’t a fan, citing expected limited effectiveness as well as undesirable results such as increased noise and exhaust, as well as vehicle damage.

How about one of those flashing yellow lights? The Committee says a flashing yellow light would likely have little to no effect on driver behavior. Seems the regulars know the terrain, they navigate it in their own way, and are unlikely to be bossed around by the kind of light that, let’s face it, most people take as a suggestion.

Perhaps make Hastings Street a one-way from Cedar St. toward Fiske School? The Committee says such a plan “would create less overall traffic at the intersection, since there would no longer be exiting traffic. It would remove the uncomfortable turn exiting Hastings St, thereby removing the most difficult sight lines for turning.”

Good points, but the Committee also points out that Hastings Street residents would have to leave their homes only in one direction, and Fiske school traffic would be forced onto surrounding streets. Doesn’t sound like a plan for neighborhood harmony.

The Committee, feeling that there are limited options to mitigating concerns at this intersection, is seeking a resolution that is, at the very least, “significantly beneficial at this location.” A full-blown traffic light could go up. Calling it a solution to the problem would be a stretch. The good news: ease of entering and exiting the minor roads (Hasting/McLean) would likely improve with the addition of a fully signalized traffic light. The bad news: the roadway sight lines are poor, which could cause an increase in rear end collisions. Traffic backups are likely, as is an increase in emissions from stop-and-go traffic.

This call-and-response of “here’s an idea” and “here’s why it won’t work” is what the Committee is talking about when they said in their report, “Addressing one situation will likely cause the worsening of a different situation.”

Share your thoughts at a Zoom meeting on Monday, Jan. 30 at 6p.m. Please sign up in advance.

If you are unable to take part in the Zoom meeting, please email comments to dpw@wellesleyma.gov

A swell memory

If you sense that Mrs. Swellesley seems just a teensy bit more excited about traffic reporting than your average journalist, you’d be right. Her dad was a transportation engineer for the City of New Haven. Working through thorny traffic problems like the one above was regular dinner conversation. By the time I could see over the dash of the family Oldsmobile, I could point out a jug-handle turn; tell you why a particular intersection experienced high-efficient (or low-efficient) traffic flow; and knew why signs that said, “don’t event THINK of parking here” weren’t funny. Answer: parking is serious business, not a joke, missy.

Keep the clouds moving in a free-flow manner up there, dad.

Wellesley town-wide office candidates for 2023 election

by

Candidates seeking town-wide office in Wellesley had until Jan. 17  to collect 50 signatures in support of their candidacy and turn in their nomination papers to the Town Clerk. Below is the list of those willing to contribute their time and talents to the town’s local government.

A few things to note… the order  in the table below is based on when candidates pulled nomination papers. The ballot order will be determined by a random drawing on Feb. 1. And yes, there will be no candidates on the ballot for Recreation Commission.

Wellesley election candidates 2023

 

Voters will have a handful of contested races to mull, including Select Board, School Committee, and Natural Resources Commission.

Forgot to turn in your nomination papers but still want to run for town-wide office? A pathway is still open. Residents interested in being write-in candidates are encouraged to declare their intent with the Town Clerk prior to the March 7, 2023 election.

Deland, Gibson, Wellesley
Rick Cram, leader

Wellesley Public Works news: A PFAS warning; Weston Road construction on tap for summer; Wood recycling hot, pricey; Town Meeting article preview

by Leave a Comment

The amount of activities handled by the Wellesley Department of Public Works can make your head spin. Even though Mother Nature has taken it easy so far this winter on the DPW, the department has a ton going on, as summarized at the Jan. 10 Board of Public Works meeting (see Wellesley Media recording).

A PFAS warning

To date, Wellesley’s primary problem with unwelcome PFAS chemicals in its drinking water has been at its Morses Pond wells, and that’s been getting treated since the summer. However, DPW Director David Cohen gave a heads up that his team is seeing “discouraging” PFAS numbers at the Longfellow/Rosemary wells, and as of Jan. 10 was bracing for December numbers that could put the town in violation of state thresholds. That would mean the town would need to go through a public notification and education process as it did when its Morses Pond numbers were too high for 3 straight months.

Wellesley gets about 150,000 gallons of water a day out of Rosemary/Longfellow,  whereas it gets about 800,000 gallons a day at Morses Pond, where PFAS treatment is in effect. But the town has also been planning upgrades to the Rosemary/Longfellow site so that it could produce more like 600,000 gallons a day there.

Cohen recommended against going ahead with a $659K well replacement contract for now in light of the PFAS numbers and unclarity on the regulations front. It initially seemed like the replacement would pay for itself within a few years, but the possibility of temporary or permanent PFAS treatment has caused the town to rethink things. One possibility would be putting a contract out to bid for the Rosemary well, but not the Longfellow one, where higher PFAS numbers have surfaced.

The town continues its research into possible sources of PFAS in its water, and while the Morses Pond data is looking inconclusive, there is some indication that Wellesley might be dealing with more of a surface water than ground water situation at Rosemary, which is near Rte. 9.

The town is also continuing talks with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority on building a second connection to it to allow for possibly more use of its water supply. The town relied heavily on MWRA water when the Morses Pond treatment system was down. Wellesley would prefer to rely on its own supply, giving it more control, but the emergence of PFAS has forced the town to consider different options.

This is all happening against a backdrop in which it’s unknown what sort of actions the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency might take regarding PFAS.

Weston Road construction on tap for summer

The next high profile roadway fix-up in town is set to be Weston Road, the high traffic path between Weston and Wellesley Square, with Rte. 9 in between. Weston Road was called Blossom Street back in the day, before being accepted by the town around 1950. The road has taken an expected beating given its heavy use, and the sidewalks overall are in rough condition (fortunately, beneath the road, pipes are generally in good shape). Weston Road was last given a full paving in 1986.

The DPW is already working on the design (funds were set aside for a survey, design and bidding in its FY22 capital plan) for this 3,800-foot-long road, and Wellesley plans to go out for bid on the project this spring. It will look to Town Meeting for funds—construction is estimated to cost $3.5M.

Town Engineer Dave Hickey shared a presentation with the Board of Public Works. Neighbors can expect to hear from the town on this as well, as Wellesley looks to get the project out to bid in the February-March timeframe.

The project has its fair share of challenges, including trees along the sidewalks and narrow rights of way (this, Hickey said, will make adding bike lanes difficult). The big challenge, though, might be that there is no easy way to route detours around this major north-south route that is mostly residential. Roughly 10,000 vehicles head up or down Weston Road each day. “I don’t see a way right now to get this work done without having a significant amount of it be done at night, which we hate to do in residential neighborhoods,” he said.

The hope would be to start construction in June and finish within the season.

Wood recycling hot, pricey

The Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility has seen about a 20% increase (vs. its budget) in wood tonnage for recycling. That’s great, as the wood is being kept out of landfills. The troubling thing is that the cost to recycle it is up 70% vs. what was budgeted. It’s unclear at this point if there’s an increase in any particular sort of wood products being brought to the RDF.

wood

New Water & Sewer superintendent

Steve Olson was introduced as the town’s new water & sewer superintendent, succeeding longtime town employee Bill Shaughnessy, who recently retired.

Going electric

The DPW recently took delivery of its first all-electric vehicle, a 2023 Chevy Bolt partially funded with a $7,500  grant from a state grant program.

The Bolt, boasting a range of 247 miles when fully charged, will largely be used for project oversight and inspections in town.

The DPW is prepping for delivery of another 7 electric vehicles that will replace gas-powered ones.

Four charging stations have been installed at DPW headquarters.

bolt dpw
DPW’s Bolt (Town of Wellesley photo)

Town Meeting articles

DPW leaders will present their FY24 budget proposal and Annual Town Meeting warrant articles (including 1 regarding a stormwater enterprise fund) before the Advisory Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The meeting begins at 6:30 and can be viewed on cable TV and online via Wellesley Media.

It’s dog license season in Wellesley

by Leave a Comment

You can apply for a new dog license or renew one for 2023 via Wellesley’s online system, or choose other options if you prefer to do things in person or by mail.

  • New licenses are available each year from Jan. 1-March 31
  • Licenses must be renewed annually from Jan. 1-March 31 to avoid a fine
  • Each dog requires a separate application.

Send questions or comments to DogLicensing@WellesleyMA.gov.

More: To the moon: Luna rises to Wellesley’s most popular dog name in 2022