The town of Wellesley has sent out a request for bids to furnish and install a pair of automated vehicle gates at the entrance to the Town’s Morses Pond property, located at 100 Turner Road. This automated gate system will have a pedestrian warning light and an audible alarm while in operation. The system will be programmable to open and close at designated times, days and dates, including the ability to have programmed automatic exiting to prevent drivers from being locked in. A remote mobile app will be part of the project, so that the gate may be operated remotely, as needed.

The app system will come in handy particularly once the Pond is officially closed for the season, yet warm weather continues, and people still want to access the trails, or hang out on the beach. (Swimming is “at your own risk” after the lifeguards finish their summertime work). Over the years, neighbors have asked the town to give people access to the Morses Pond parking lot, citing times when the Woodlands neighborhood has been overrun with vehicles parking on-street, and sometimes even blocking gate access/emergency access.

The yellow metal Turner Road currently is locked and unlocked manually, typically by town staff, or the Wellesley Police.

Stay in the loop on Wellesley by signing up for Swellesley’s free email newsletter

The final direction of the Morses Pond beach and bathhouse project, the subject of discussions since before the pandemic, could be decided in coming weeks based on a new report and a series of meetings planned over the next two months.

The general concept has been to replace and relocate the Morses Pond bathhouse for usability, safety, accessibility and aesthetics. The “current master plan,” as it was described by the town’s consultants, has been to remove the structure on the north side of the beach and shift it to the opposite side, though the latest study does show possible alternative approaches on both the south and north sides that are significantly smaller than the current proposed structure on the south side.

The Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee met on Sept. 15 to discuss the latest findings from consulting partner Weston & Sampson, which produced a supplemental feasibility study about placement of the bathhouse on the beach taking into consideration environmental and other concerns (see Wellesley Media recording). Town Meeting in the spring approved use of Community Preservation Act funds for the study.

The Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee intends to make a recommendation about the project at its Sept. 29 meeting, then hand things over to the Natural Resources Commission (NRC), which created the Committee last year. The NRC is expected to make a decision in late October.

Not all communities still have local news outlets. Now, thanks to Swellesley’s partnership with Tiny News Collective, you can make tax deductible contributions to support our work.

Before that, other discussions will take place, including at the Select Board meeting on Sept. 16 (Board member Tom Ulfelder is on the Committee).

There will be more opportunities for public comment along the way.

Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee and NRC Chair Jay McHale said early on during the Sept. 15 meeting that he was “appreciative of the fact that we have a lot of great data that the NRC can certainly look to as they make a decision…” He added later that “regardless of the choice that we make, we certainly have earned our keep in being able to reduce the overall impact to the beach area through some creative thinking and a lot of good work from Weston & Sampson…”

The feasibility study presented by consultants in part summarized results of digging stormwater test pits that allowed for exploration of soil with an eye for contaminants as well as infiltration and load capacity. The firm looked broadly as well at the pervious and impervious cover for different plans.

The study looked at trees, wildlife, and invasives in the area, plus analyzed grading that would be required for accessibility. The study zeroed in on possible disturbance of the beach area (placing the structure on the south rather than north side will create more disturbance, but either alternative would impact the area much less than the current master plan). Weston & Sampson also reviewed the maze of permitting that comes with this area, from wetlands to MBTA-related to recreational use requirements.

Weston & Sampson presented a modified bathhouse design (or “building program” in consultant-speak) that would condense the interior and exterior components of the bathhouse by more than 25% while in theory still meeting Recreation Department needs. The total square footage of the planned building vs. the modified one would be down by about 1,000 sq. ft. The number of toilet stalls and changing rooms would be reduced under the modified design, and a concession area would go away (vending machines would remain). Planned footpaths along the Ice Pond would also not be included under these designs.

A year ago the project was being talked about as possibly exceeding $9 million in costs. Total cost wasn’t discussed at the Committee meeting this week, though it was stated that condensing the project’s footprint would naturally slash costs. It was pointed out that locating the structure on the south rather than north side would be more expensive, in part due to running utilities across a longer distance, though there are some cost trade-offs with either scenario.

Neighbor Joe Schott commented during citizen speak at the start of the meeting that he appreciated the new data supplied in the study, and the ideas proposed that could lessen environmental impact of the project and result in significant cost savings. He also raised a concern that the study presentation now frames the Committee’s decision as being a new choice between modified designs on the north and south sides of the beach.

Schott said: “I think we went into this study trying to address whether or not putting the building on the south is environmentally feasible…does it meet the six recommendations that this committee laid out last summer… The reason I think that’s important is because… we’ve had five years of conversations about different preferences for siting of the building…,” and that after numerous public forums and a couple of Town Meeting votes, the south side was “the consensus location.” Getting back into conversations about location at this point would be “really going backwards”if both options are environmentally acceptable, he said.

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

Limited access to Morses Pond has begun, with full access starting on June 23.

The parking lot will be open 12pm-8pm for Wellesley residents and non-resident season pass holders. No lifeguards are on duty, so it is swim at your own risk.

Starting on June 23 through Aug. 17, lifeguards will be on duty from 10am-5pm, and park rangers will be on the job from 5pm to dusk.

Once parking lots close, there is no access to the pond.

Learn about season passes and equipment rentals. For more information, please contact the Recreation Department at 781-235-2370.

It’s off-season for the Morses Pond beach, but Wellesley town departments and elected or appointed bodies have been diving into topics in recent months that will have a huge impact on the popular recreation area’s future.

Plans to replace and relocate the Morses Pond bathhouse for usability, accessibility and aesthetics have been underway since before the pandemic, and then delayed because of the pandemic and other town capital projects, while the Morses Pond parking lot area has separately become a focus point of discussions on where a dedicated pickleball recreation area might be located. All of this is taking place against a backdrop of Wellesley figuring out how it might reuse parts of the roughly 46-acre North 40 property adjacent to Morses Pond that the town agreed in late 2014 to buy from Wellesley College for $35M.

The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) in early October (see Wellesley Media recordings for Oct. 3 and Oct. 17) shared updates on the seemingly endless planning for a revamped bathhouse and beach area project that would entail removing the outdated existing bathhouse and building a new one on the opposite side of the beachfront. A new development in this plan is a proposed supplemental feasibility study in the wake of recommendations issued by the Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee, which was formed following Annual Town Meeting and includes members from the NRC, Recreation, the Select Board, and more. An initial feasibility study was already completed as part of the town’s usual feasibility-design-construction process, with $175K approved for the study by 2021 Annual Town Meeting.

Meanwhile, the Recreation Commission hashed out the latest on the Morses Pond plan at its Oct. 8 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording), and separately, held both online and in-person meetings about the latest pickleball study findings (see Wellesley Media recording of the in-person meeting). The beach and pickleball studies have been done by different teams at ubiquitous consultant Weston & Sampson, and are not unrelated—for example, the parking situation of one would impact the other.

Let’s not forget the Community Preservation Committee either. This group, which vets ways for the town to spend monies from the Community Preservation Act surcharge on property taxes, most recently discussed the Morses Pond beach project and the need for a supplemental feasibility study at its Oct.9 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording about 24 minutes in). Town Meeting in March approved using $925K in CPC funds for design work and construction documents on the Morses Pond bathhouse project, which in all is heading north of a $9M endeavor with construction costs only climbing as delays mount. A timeline shared as part of the Annual Town Meeting presentation showed construction on the project taking place between March 2026 and March 2027, but that was predicated on a schedule including Special Town Meeting funding and other steps taking place.

The Morses Pond bathhouse project had initially been led by the Wellesley Recreation Department, though the NRC, which is the land owner, has now taken the lead on the project. Some confusion over this has been clear from discussions at recent town government meetings, including at the Oct. 9 CPC meeting, but members of the elected Recreation Commission conceded at their Oct. 8 meeting that the NRC is now steering things.

“We’ve been facilitating the process to this point in time,” said Recreation Commission Chair Paul Cramer at that meeting, “But it seems to me at some level Rec is kind of no longer the facilitator of this process. It seems that the NRC is now because… we’re not the ones who either have the expertise to answer these environmental questions nor are we the ones who will have the final say on whether or not they are adequately addressed.”

Fellow commissioner Mark Wolfson concurred, and said the town’s Permanent Building Committee (PBC) and Facilities Maintenance Department (FMD) would be managing the project, which would need to support Recreation Department programs. The town’s Recreation Department and Commission have been supportive of the relocated Morses Pond bathhouse, which they have said would work well operationally for their programs.

The NRC’s Jay McHale broke the news about the proposed supplemental feasibility study at that group’s Oct. 3 meeting following agreement by the NRC and Rec Commission that all or most recommendations from the Morses Pond Beach Advisory Committee should be addressed. Following a meeting with facilities personnel about the Beach Advisory Committee recommendations, McHale said issues related to everything from site circulation to utilities and wetlands impact to recreation program storage were raised. “They said there were too many things that needed to be addressed before PBC could take a look at it” in the design phase, he said. (The need for more feasibility work was foreshadowed at a June 13 PBC meeting at which the NRC’s McHale shared an update.)

Thus the recommendation for a supplemental study to address the issues raised by the Beach Advisory Committee. Questions remain where funding for that study would come from depending on how much it will cost (a scope of work draft has begun making the rounds). Though McHale recommended the NRC put $150K in its budget (hopefully covered by the CPC) and seek Town Meeting approval in the spring. “It’s going to put a bit of delay on trying to get things to move forward… it’s unfortunate, but it’s also the right thing to do,” he said.

Some in the process have asked about whether the contingency portion of the $925K in funds approved at Town Meeting could be used to pay for some or all of the supplemental study and avoid the need to ask Annual Town Meeting in the spring.

Joe Schott is a Morses Pond neighbor who opposes using Morses Pond land for pickleball but enthusiastically supports the Morses Pond beachfront renovation. On the bathhouse project, however, he has grown frustrated with the process, regularly raising his concerns during citizen speak at meetings and corresponding separately with the town bodies and departments involved. He’s looking for the NRC, Recreation Commission, and FMD to hammer things out.

Schott told the Recreation Commission at its Oct. 8 meeting that he was “really at a loss to understand” how a project overwhelmingly supported at Town Meeting is now being rethought following the Advisory Committee meetings in a way that could cost the town more money and delay the project by a couple more years.  At the start of the NRC’s Oct. 17 meeting, Schott commented that he’s concerned the Beach Advisory Committee’s recommendations are taking the process back to the first phase when topics such as the number of bathrooms and building location were addressed. “That’s what’s going to drive up the cost of this if we have to go backwards,” he said.

The Morses Pond beach project is on the NRC’s Nov. 7 agenda, so expect an update on the proposed supplemental feasibility study tonight.

YES, sign me up for Swellesley’s daily email newsletter