Wellesley residents urge opioid treatment center reps to reconsider location

October 23, 2018 by bbrown 2 Comments

wellesley bos opioids

Wellesley residents came out in force at Monday’s two-and-a-half-hour Board of Selectmen’s meeting, which was devoted to discussion of the Coleman Institute opioid and alcohol treatment center that’s readying to treat patients at a Lower Falls office building by year-end. It presented residents with their first opportunity to hear directly from the healthcare organization and for the organization to hear straight from residents about their concerns regarding the outpatient facility slated to open at 30 Washington St., nearby several schools as well as Warren Park.

While company officials heard from supporters, and were assured numerous times by residents that Wellesley is open to having a treatment facility, they mostly got an earful from parents concerned that the office is located so close to where their kids go to school and play. Parents expressed concern that addicts being treated, and those turned away, could be a threat to their kids. Parents also criticized Coleman for not engaging sooner with the community about its plans, and asked the Board of Selectmen pointed questions about why it wasn’t taking steps to at least delay the office’s opening until the community can further explore the issue.

Our report in September that the Coleman Institute would be opening caught town officials by surprise and resulted in parents organizing a meeting to hash out their concerns in anticipation of Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. The Board announced in late September that it would be inviting Coleman reps to attend its Oct. 22 meeting.

More than 100 people, some standing, jammed into Great Hall. Three reps from BayMark Health and its Coleman Institute business — including founder Dr. Peter Coleman — answered questions (through the Board of Selectmen) from more than 2 dozen citizens. The majority of those who spoke identified themselves as parents of children who attend St. John School and/or Schofield Elementary School, both situated near Coleman’s planned office. (You can watch a Wellesley Public Media recording of the meeting below.)

Doctors and other healthcare professionals were among residents and former residents who spoke. They all empathized with the need to treat addicts, though differed on whether the current location is appropriate.

Dr. Patricia Helm, a pediatrician and Wellesley resident with a child at St. John, described herself as an advocate for all children, including those affected by the opioid crisis. “My concern lies only with the specific location that the Coleman Institute has selected. There is no community that is untouched by this epidemic. This disease is in Wellesley. The [Read more…]

Wellesley 40B housing development action about to heat up again

August 22, 2018 by bbrown Leave a Comment

At least publicly, the 40B scene in Wellesley has been much quieter than last summer. But a rapid fire series of meetings next month will bring 40B developments aimed at boosting the town’s affordable housing stock and developers’ bank accounts back to the forefront.

Of course this time around, the 40B developments are being discussed while a housing production plan designed to give the town more say over how affordable and other housing is fast moving toward completion. The public is invited to weigh in now, and the Board of Selectmen and Board of Planning hope to formalize the plan by the end of next month.

As for the 40B projects that have been proposed, here’s the status of all pending 40B Comprehensive Permit Applications being considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals:

16 Stearns Road and 680 Worcester Street:
- Two applications were recently received for these projects.
- The public hearings for these applications are scheduled to be opened at the ZBA meeting on Thursday, September 6 at 7pm in the Juliani Room in Town Hall. Deliberations on these applications are not expected at this meeting. Rather, the hearings would be continued to a future to-be-determined date.
- Materials are currently posted on the ZBA web page, and will be added soon to the 40B page.

148 Weston Road:
- The public hearing on this application will be reopened at the ZBA meeting on Tuesday, September 11 at 7pm in the Great Hall in Town Hall. A full discussion, deliberations, and opportunity for public comments is expected at this meeting.
- 148 Weston Rd. site as seen from aqueduct

135 Great Plain Avenue
- The public hearing on this application will be reopened at the ZBA meeting on Thursday, September 13 at 7pm in the Juliani Room in Town Hall. A full discussion, deliberations, and opportunity for public comments is expected at this meeting.

Delanson Circle:

- The public hearing on this application will be reopened at the ZBA meeting on Thursday, September 13 at 7pm in the Juliani Room in Town Hall. Given other agenda items, approximately 30 minutes is expected to be dedicated to this application; however, discussion, deliberations, and opportunity for public comments is expected, too.

Planning Director Michael Zehner says that one other possible 40B, at 136 Worcester St., that’s pending project eligibility.

MORE: A look back at Wellesley’s early 40B (Anti-snob Zoning Act) disputes

Wellesley’s Affordable Housing Challenge video)

Neighbors facing real uphill battle over rehabbed Wellesley house & yard

August 21, 2018 by bbrown 2 Comments

When a Wellesley cop sold his home at 19 Fife Rd., back in March, it came as no surprise that the big cape would undergo a major change. After all, the 4-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house, which sold for $759K according to various real estate sites, had been kicking around since 1950. As we all know by now in teardown central, that many years on a house is almost a certain death sentence.

But the buyer in this case, an LLC out of Quincy, reportedly snapped up the home in the Fiske Elementary School neighborhood with the idea of rehabbing and reselling it, not tearing it down. Among the first moves by the buyer was to cut down dozens of trees. The removal of at least some of those trees was welcomed by Michael and Elizma Sexton, whose McLean Street home abuts and stands below the Fife Road house. Their patio and backyard suddenly no longer stood entirely in the shadows.

However, Michael Sexton says that the tree cutting (and burying) and the amassing of truckloads of soil at the Fife Road home has also resulted in mudslides and streams of water into their backyard and basement. The Sextons say communications with the buyer and their builder has been a struggle since the start of the summer, and as a result neighbors have reached out to town officials for relief. They’ve also taken preliminary legal action in the form of a letter to the owner and contacted the press.

While town officials have visited the house, shaken their heads and expressed sympathy for the neighbors’ plight, they’ve said that the matter is more likely a civil one than anything the town can get involved in. The project has not triggered the need for the homeowners to apply for a special permit from the town or get any sort of official town review, as say an expansion of the home beyond its current footprint or erection of a retaining wall would have done. It has, however, perhaps cracked open the door for future zoning bylaws aimed at promoting more neighborliness.

fife mclean wellesley — The view from McLean Street

Reaching out to town officials

The Sextons say the original builder (since replaced) seemed cooperative, and that the owner did show up to address the water runoff issue after a recent big storm. Mesh has been draped over the dirt hill and a screen has been stretched across most of the property to block water flow. The Sextons say the owner pledged to deliver a more robust water mitigation plan within a few days of the incident, but it’s been a month since that meeting and no plan has emerged. We reached out to the owner over the weekend, but have not heard back.

Meanwhile, neighbors have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to get the town involved.

They say they have reached out to the Building Department, Engineering Division. Natural Resources Commission and Planning Board. At the Aug. 6 Planning Board meeting, Sexton and McLean Street neighbor Rob Ruffin aired their concerns during the citizen speak segment (starts just before the 7-minute mark of this Wellesley Public Media recording).

The way Sexton sees it, rehabbing homes is a good thing for neighborhoods. But in this case, he said at the Planning Board meeting, the property owner has been “shrewd” about “going right up to the line” in making sure not to trigger any special permits and get the town officially involved in inspecting its building practices.

After listing the steps that neighbors had already taken to try to resolve the issue, Sexton told officials at the Planning Board meeting: “I guess we’re just coming to ask for help.”

McLean Street, Wellesley

A recent storm flooded the Sextons’ patio

But Planning Director Michael Zehner didn’t have especially good news for the Sextons on that front: “I hate to tell you but…it may be a civil matter,” said Zehner, who noted the board has heard similar sorts of complaints in the past. In a follow-up email to us, Zehner wrote: “No doubt they have legitimate concerns, but absent applicable regulations on stormwater, grading, and erosion and sedimentation control measures during construction, the Town has no recourse.”

The meeting did, however, prompt Planning Chair Catherine Johnson to visit the property this past weekend just before I did. During the Planning Board meeting, Johnson said the board’s only recourse would be to put in place new regulations, but any new bylaws would require Town Meeting approval and that wouldn’t take place in time to address this specific situation.

“I certainly appreciate your concern,” Johnson said during the Planning Board meeting. “In my heart of hearts… every single house that’s built in Wellesley would in some way, shape or form be permitted. That could be considered onerous for some people, but it ends up creating more of an omnibus for the town. That’s the way it was built.”

So while you might think based on some of the discussion around newer Wellesley bylaws such as those related to large house reviews and teardown delays that you basically need a permit to blow your nose in town, it turns out that that’s really not the case.

Wellesley doesn’t appear to formally keep track of complaints like those of these neighbors. But if the Sextons’ and Ruffins’ concerns resonate, it’s possible that others coming forward to town officials en masse could spark action on new bylaws, such as a hillside protection rule, that could help others down the road.

Here in Wellesley — graffiti at the Farms train station, a commentary

July 26, 2018 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

First off, I’m a little afraid of the Wellesley Farms commuter rail station depot. It’s dark and scary in there. There are cobwebs in the rafters, and dead leaves fill the corners. When the wind kicks up the leaves swirl, tornado-like, lending an even spookier atmosphere to a place that already has a Scooby-Doo air of decay and abandonment.

Still, when I’m in that area curiosity gets the better of me, and I always peek inside the depot. This time, emboldened by the sunshine and warmth of summer, I took it a step farther and dared to enter. Not to brag, but it was a matter of minutes before I emerged. It wasn’t bravery that kept me there, exactly, it was the interior walls which, unsurprisingly, have been used as a graffiti canvas. There was one wall in particular that got me, serving as it did as part art gallery, part art critic’s platform.

Graffiti, Wellesley Farms station — The message “Come as you are,” greets Wellesley Farms commuter rail users who peek into the old depot.

The artist had a simple message, perhaps Nirvana inspired. The words “Come as you are,” captioned a smiley face with the eyes x-ed out. To the side of the art, carefully written, was the art critic’s assessment: “This is stupid.”

Sure, it wasn’t nice to say the work was stupid, but critics don’t have a reputation for being nice, and are beholden to no one. What struck me was not so much the assessment but the way in which the critic visually presented the message. The critic, opinion notwithstanding, took pains to avoid marring the art. Instead, in an act of respect for the work itself, the review was wrapped around a concrete corner, clearly separate from the image.

So which was shallow, unimaginative, and banal? The graffiti or the critic’s response to it?

Graffiti, Wellesley Farms — The comment, “This is stupid,” in response to the image on the wall of the depot.

That depends on how you think of graffiti. Some say it’s vandalism, pure and simple. Others elevate its status to art in its own right. The more politically minded see graffiti as a weapon used by the front lines of neighborhood foot soldiers pushing back against gentrification. The locals want to keep an area gritty and so grit it up even more, but often to no avail. Once the area attracts the attention of rich colonizers looking to snap up real estate bargains, it’s goodbye bohemia, hello “utopia.”

If you think of graffiti as vandalism, then both the critic and spray-painter are guilty of nothing less than crimes against private property. In this view, there is no “artist” or “critic” here. There are only perpetrators bent on destruction. Find them, give them some cleaning solvent and a paint scraper, and make them remove the damage.

If you think of graffiti as art, congratulations, you’re a liberal. Perhaps with the comment “This is stupid,” the critic is suggesting that graffiti is a waste of bother in Wellesley, a place that’s been proudly gentrified since 1881 when we split off from Needham, a gritty place if ever there was one. With that act of secession, Wellesley forevermore gave up all rights to urban swagger and delusions of street smarts. I think it’s in the original charter. There are no neighborhood foot soldiers here, pushing back against anything. The rich colonizers are welcomed with open arms. Real estate bargains? Hah. “This is stupid,” indeed.

Or maybe the critic was literal-minded, offended by the obvious haste with which the artist worked. Time always works against spray-painters, jumpy types who hear sirens in their minds and are always scouting for the quickest exit. Tough working conditions. But those problems are not the critic’s, who likely wrote, “This is stupid,” under similar circumstances. If the critic had only that one comment and meant it plainly, then there’s the superficial player in this drama. It matters not if we suspect the critic wanted to say more but was interrupted. We must judge based only on what we are presented with — image, and comment.

The artist and critic are long gone, these itinerant communicators of provenance unknown, one off to the next project, the other on a continued quest for that which pleases. Meanwhile, Wellesley is left with nothing but their makeshift gallery, and a creepy one at that. One that could use a Caffe Nero, like that nice one up at Wellesley Hills. One that could use some colonization.

Why the MBTA has cut down hundreds of Wellesley trees

White’s Bakery & Cafe coming to Wellesley

July 13, 2018 by Deborah Brown 2 Comments

You heard it from The Browns first — White’s Bakery & Cafe is coming to Wellesley in the former TD Bank location in Playhouse Square on Washington Street. The business is owned by David White who according the the company website started out in 1980 with no formal culinary or baking education but who had “…a love for food, working with his hands, and an inability to sleep late or sit still.”

Expect White’s to bring to Wellesley all the yummy things they offer at their other locations in Brockton, Hingham, and Mansfield: breakfast items such as muffins, danishes, and croissants; sweet treats; artisanal breads, pies, cakes, and tortes as well as savory lunch items like calzones, pastas, and paninis.

TD Bank Forest st — White’s Bakery & Cafe expects to move into the former TD Bank location at Playhouse Square in Fall 2018, according to their website.

Back in 2016, Wellesley, Needham and State Police joined forces to nab 3 suspects who attempted to rob TD Bank at Playhouse Square. Let’s hope White’s doesn’t see any of that kind of action once they move in.