A developer’s push to rezone residential district land in Wellesley and Natick at the top of Pond Road is being mulled by elected or appointed bodies in both towns this month ahead of spring Town Meetings.
The latest action took place at Wellesley’s Advisory Committee meeting on Valentine’s Day, which started off with a handful of citizen speakers not sharing any love for the proposed 200 Pond Rd. project, a 130-unit assisted living and memory care facility that would require the zoning changes to operate on the site where a residential mansion now sits (see Wellesley Media recording about 2 hours, 22 minutes in).
Opponents fear harm to the environment, traffic increases, and more on this officially designated scenic road (not to be confused with the more central Pond Street in Natick). The proponent, project owner Welltower, contends that there is an unmet need for assisted living and memory care services in the area due to an aging population and a lack of facilities, and stresses that something is going to get developed on the property 1 way or another.
The Advisory Committee vets articles for Town Meeting and makes recommendations on them—Article 43 is the one considered here, and the proponent seeks for Wellesley to allow access through a driveway to the proposed 130,000 sq. ft. facility, which would be built on Natick land but have a Wellesley address. Advisory Chair Madison Riley made clear at the meeting’s start that the committee would be hearing a presentation from the proponent and have a chance to ask questions, but wouldn’t deliberate or vote until Feb. 28. Coincidentally, Natick’s Planning Board is set to hold a continuation of its public hearing on this same date regarding proposed zoning amendments related to this property.
Wellesley’s Town Meeting kicks off on March 25, while Natick’s starts on April 23. Last April, the proponent pulled back on a Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting citizen petition for a zoning change that could pave the way for the facility after facing many questions from Natick officials and the public.
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Wellesley officials were briefed on initial plans for this facility as far back as mid-2022. Wellesley’s Planning Board in December voted in favor of placing Article 43 on the Town Meeting warrant, after the developer dangled a possible $1M+ payment (now revised to $1.3M-plus) to the town as part of a future development agreement. Though at Planning’s Feb. 5 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording), the body voted against actually supporting the zoning amendment article at Town Meeting. Earlier, the Wellesley Select Board voted 5-0 against entering a development agreement.
The proposal has also been the subject of competing petition drives, has resulted in dozens of letters being sent to Natick and Wellesley town officials, and has sparked a separate proposal for conservation restrictions sent to the Natick and Wellesley Select Boards by an attorney representing concerned residents in both towns.
At the Feb. 14 Wellesley Advisory Committee meeting, about 2 hours were devoted to the 200 Pond Road-related zoning amendment article. The proponent reemphasized that if Wellesley were to approve Article 43 and the project were to go through with Natick’s blessing, that Wellesley land on Pond Road would be protected from further development. If the project doesn’t go through, 2 or 3 more big homes could be built alongside the scenic road in Wellesley, the proponent said, along with more homes in Natick where the proposed senior facility would otherwise be built.
“The proposed amendment and the question before us is not a question of status quo vs. a senior housing/assisted living/memory care unit in Natick. It is a question of whether or not or how the Wellesley land will be developed if this proposed amendment does not go forward and the Wellesley land is left unprotected,” said attorney David Himmelberger, on behalf of the proponent. He added that by going first, Wellesley could establish a framework through its bylaws for what could be built on the abutting property.
Additional points of emphasis from the proponent were that Wellesley has limited space zoned to support building of senior facilities, that not less than 50% of the Wellesley land at issue would be under a conservation restriction (if the access is used), and that skepticism over the developer’s third-party traffic study is misplaced, as seen from results of a peer review by a consultant hired by the town.
Advisory Committee members asked a series of questions, many related to the chicken-and-egg situation of whether Natick or Wellesley should go first on this (“I’m still struggling with why it’s important for us to go first,” one member said, even understanding some of the logistics in doing so as laid out by the proponent). The concern for Natick’s town government is that it could put a lot of work into rezoning only to have the proposed project stymied if Wellesley doesn’t allow access.
Advisory members also sought assurances over whether, for example, an assisted living facility was built and went bust, that something perhaps even more use intensive couldn’t replace it. The question was also raised over whether access to the proposed facility could just go straight to Rte. 135 and leave Pond Road out of the picture entirely (the answer was no, current conservation restrictions wouldn’t allow for that).
Natick’s Select Board, as a procedural matter, in January referred an emerging citizen petition from the proponent to the town’s Planning Board. A spokesman for the project said during the Wellesley Advisory meeting that plans are to file the citizen petition on Feb. 22.
The Natick Planning Board at its Jan. 31 hearing received a presentation from the proponent that included consideration of a new “Conservation Assisted Living and Memory Care (CALM) Overlay District” that could accommodate projects like the one proposed. The pitch featured an increased emphasis on the lack of possible places to build a facility like the one proposed under existing zoning. The proponent hired an engineering firm that found no current “reasonably developable or redevelopable parcel under the [Assisted Living Residence] bylaw” in Natick. The 200 Pond Road location would affect far fewer abutters than other locations in Natick where such a development would be allowed, the proponent said.
The Planning Board didn’t vote that night, but member reaction was less than enthusiastic. One member complimented the proposal as well researched and logical, and said he’d be fine whichever way Town Meeting goes. Others raised various concerns about the appropriateness of rezoning this area, with references to what might happen if the assisted living facility were to fold and the fact that most of the conservation area discussed would be in Wellesley rather than Natick. The Board is slated to continue its public hearing on this subject on Feb. 28, when it could make a non-binding recommendation to Town Meeting.
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