The drought status for the southeast region of the state that includes Wellesley has been raised from a Level 0 designation (normal conditions) by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to Level 1 (mild drought). Wellesley last month saw its designation drop from Level 2 (significant drought) to normal conditions, after which the Board of Public Works rescinded one-day per week outdoor watering restrictions that had been in effect since February.

Expect the board, which meets on May 13, to have something to say about the latest designation.

Despite the previously improved drought status, the Wellesley Water Department was still discouraging business and property owners from going wild with their water, both for conservation purposes as well as for lawn health. They were recommending a voluntary conservation program of two outdoor watering days per week, and to irrigate before 9 am and after 5 pm to reduce water loss from evaporation.

You can track your water use via the Water Customer Portal. 

Contact the DPW Water & Sewer Division with questions at (781) 235-7600 extension 3355.

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Wellesley Middle School Social Studies students as part of a Civics Action Project have this week taken over The Swellesley Report‘s letters-to-the-editor page. The students are well-versed in their topics, have carefully researched all angles, and are ready to present their opinions to the community. Thanks to WMS Social Studies head Adam Blumer, and to the entire social studies department, for spearheading this important civics project.

We’ll publish several letters per week.

In this week’s letters from the middle schoolers:

• Ponds: Wellesley’s forgotten ecosystem.
• Stride instead of ride—”the fewer cars on the road, the safer it is for everyone.”
• To combat litter, we need more trash and recycling bins in our parks.
• Wellesley must strive to make more trails accessible so more people can enjoy them.

And a letter from the wider community

• MassBay Forest—what’s at stake is a “rare, high-functioning land that supports biodiversity.”

You can see all the letters to the editor here.

How many Fridays are we going to encourage this display of civic involvement? For as many as it takes for the WMS Social Studies students to air their opinions.

A “Deutschfest” is a celebration dedicated to German heritage, culture, and traditions. Generally, they serve as community-oriented gatherings focused on the “Gemütlichkeit” (spirit of comradeship and good times) of German roots.

This is the second iteration of the event, celebrating German, Swiss, and Austrian culture. Stations featured crafts such as Karneval mask making and introduced aspects of German culture, including the language, automobiles, soccer teams, and more.

Like other cultural fairs at WMS, including the French Fête and Lunar New Year celebrations, food played a central role. Tables offered cheeses, cakes, sausages, soft pretzels, and sweets, with parent volunteers and Wellesley High Key Club members helping prepare and distribute items. Apple and marble cakes were baked in advance, while pretzels were served warm and quickly became one of the most visited stops. At one craft station, students assembled Schultüten, traditional German school cones filled with treats, using donated candy and decorated paper cones prepared ahead of time.

One 7th grader said, “The food was definitely the best part. It made it feel more real than just learning about it. You could actually try it instead of just hearing about it.”

German language students also performed short skits and songs throughout the afternoon. Some were humorous, others more focused on simple conversational phrases practiced in class. The performances were brief but consistently drew attention from students passing between stations, adding moments of performance to an otherwise rotating structure.

A parent volunteer notes how “It was really busy, but in a good way. There was always something to do, and it felt like the whole school was involved.”

“It’s very chaotic once it starts,” one volunteer said. “But that energy is expected. You want students moving, trying things, interacting.”

Given that the event served hundreds of students and offered an abundant set of stations and opportunities, thorough planning was needed. Major contributors include WMS German teacher Frau Bennett and WMS parent Tanya Lisowsky.

For the German department, the event serves a longer-term purpose beyond a single afternoon of celebration. It introduces younger students to the language program in a way that feels accessible and social rather than strictly academic. Lisowski noted how the main goal of the event is to “foster interest in the German language classes at Wellesley schools.” The event structure emphasized this by focusing on involving participants rather than just presenting cultural info.

As the cafeteria shifted from organized rotation to lingering conversation, students compared crafts, traded candy, and hung around in groups as stations began to close. Teachers and volunteers began to collect materials and fold up poster-boards.

Deutschfest was less a single, defined event and more a series of connected activities. It was formed by the quality of the food, the hands-on nature of each station, and the excitement of the performers. In the end, the event successfully introduced German, Austrian, and Swiss culture through experience, leaving students with lasting impressions shaped by active participation.

The Wellesley Select Board, on the heels of the latest communication from the state regarding the future of 45 acres of MassBay Community College property, plans to call for a Special Town Meeting on May 11 where the issue will be addressed. The state’s plans to sell MassBay property deemed “surplus”—five acres of parking lot, 40 acres of forest—so that 180 units of housing can be developed has sparked concerns from neighbors and users of the adjacent Centennial Reservation as well as enthusiasm from those who say the state’s plans could lead to needed housing, protections for the forest, and upgrades to MassBay’s campus.

(See Wellesley Media recording of the April 14 Select Board meeting about 4 minutes, 30 seconds in.)

The other big news shared by Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman was that the state’s Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities (EOHLC) and Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) continue to target July for issuance of a request for proposals to develop the property at 40 Oakland St. under the state’s Affordable Homes Act (AHA). State leaders say in an April 10 letter responding to a January letter from the town that included some three dozen questions about the AHA, possible project at 40 Oakland, and more, that the July target date still gives Wellesley time to share the community’s goals for housing at the site. EOHLC has swapped out one Secretary for another in between the time the town sent its questions and now.

The Swellesley Report was the first publication to write about the possibility of housing at this site, all the way back in early June of last year. Numerous public meetings on this issue have been held and many citizen speak opportunities on this issue have been made available last year and this. Grassroots campaigns in town have emerged, and the town has investigated legal options, which it continues to discuss.

The Select Board began its night behind closed doors in an executive session “to conduct strategy with respect to potential litigation regarding 40 Oakland Street.” It then shifted to public mode, and began with an agenda item on the MassBay property, which sits across Oakland Street from the school’s campus.

At that point, Freiman shared that the town had received two letters from the state, one from EOHLC that reiterated that the Commonwealth’s plans for Wellesley are part of a broader effort to address the housing crisis. “The letter did not answer any of the questions we sent in our Jan. 9 letter,” she said.

What the letter did say, in part: “The project at 40 Oakland Street presents an opportunity to work together on a development approach that helps address this urgent need by building 180 much-needed new homes in a way that enhances the community and complements the town’s overarching housing and planning goals. We can achieve this by concentrating development of these units on and around the parking area and permanently conserving the balance of the parcel, which does not enjoy such protection today, should the town still wish to do so.”

The EOHLC letter stated that the town’s questions sent in January went beyond the scope of planning considerations that were expected to be the focus of the town’s queries (and that some questions were addressed in the state’s proposed regulations, on which the town submitted comments in early April).

EOHLC did say that DCAMM “is open to requiring that the selected developer comply with the Town’s existing Inclusionary Zoning requirements for the creation and monitoring of affordable housing units…”

The other letter, from DCAMM, provided the official 30-day notice that the property at 40 Oakland St. has been determined to be surplus and will be made available for disposition for housing purposes. It remained evident during citizen remarks at the Select Board meeting that the term “surplus” being associated with the forest land continues to stick in the craw of those opposing the state’s plans.

Freiman said that while the town has provided plenty of opportunities for people to weigh in on the MassBay situation (public meetings, letters, etc.), “We now believe that we need to hear from a very broad representative group of the town, and we are going to call for a Special Town Meeting in May…”

The plan is to put a non-binding question or questions to Town Meeting members at the May 11 session, slated to start at 7pm at Wellesley High, and that other members of the public will be welcome to attend as well (Wellesley’s Annual Town Meeting was dissolved earlier this month).

The Select Board will meet on Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall to open the Special Town Meeting Warrant. A subsequent meeting will  be held on Monday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. in town hall to finalize and vote the motion language for the warrant.

Seven members of the public commented during the April 14 Select Board meeting regarding the MassBay agenda item. The first welcomed the state efforts, citing the need for housing and the opportunity to protect the forest; the rest shared their concerns, including about housing density, lack of a broad planning perspective related to other potential development in the area, and possible negative environmental impacts.

The public may submit general comments and concerns on the MassBay land disposition to EOHLC at 40OaklandSt.DCAMM@mass.gov until May 13.

Note: Posted updated on 4/16/26 with additional information on the planned Special Town Meeting and warrant.

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The Swellesley Report accepts letters to the editor. Letters must be of general local community interest and must be signed. Community shout-outs are also accepted and encouraged. For example, a non-profit may thank an organization for a donation received.
 

In a letter this week, a writer says Wellesley should “put students and public schools at the center of every major development decision.”

• See more letters here.

How to submit your letter to the editor

 
The deadline is Wednesday at noon for letters to appear that week, or a week further out. Send letters to the editor to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Submitting a letter to the editor does not guarantee that your letter will be posted on The Swellesley Report.

Letters must be written for The Swellesley Report only—we do not accept form-type letters sent to multiple news agencies.

Please review detailed guidelines for letters to the editor here.

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

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For those tracking the Commonwealth’s plan under the Affordable Homes Act to sell MassBay Community College property to support new housing and help fund campus upgrades, there have been a couple of new developments. The state’s designation of 45 acres at 40 Oakland St. as surplus (this includes about 40 acres of forest adjacent to Centennial Reservation and 5 acres of parking lot) has raised questions from town leadership, concerns from forest users, and hopes for housing advocates.

One development is that the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) has proposed draft regulations for Surplus Real Property and is asking for public comments. The purpose of the regulations is “to establish a framework to guide municipalities and developers in the residential development of surplus real property…”

You’ve got until 11:59pm on April 13 to submit comments to EOHLCRegulationComments@mass.gov (with the subject line “Comments on 760 CMR 77”). Don’t send the comments to the town of Wellesley—as the town of Wellesley emphasizes on its MassBay Proposed Land Disposition web page.

A second development is that a group has been formed called Friends of Centennial, which describes on its website how the organization came to be and how it hopes to proceed.

“For several months, a small group of concerned residents has quietly laid the groundwork to protect the 40 Oakland Street parcel and the surrounding shared natural spaces that have been used and cherished by thousands for many decades. With our own funds, we took the time to research, consult experts, and build a strong factual and legal foundation before asking the broader community to get involved. To date, we have invested more than $35,000, which has allowed us to move forward with focused confidence.

“The next phase requires wider financial and community support. We hope you will join us by donating to our new nonprofit organization, Friends of Centennial, so that we can take the necessary action to stand up against this proposed project.”

The group has retained Hill Law, “a firm with specialized land use expertise to evaluate and pursue legal strategies to eliminate or significantly reduce the scope of development.”

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The New England Patriots are getting support on Super Bowl Sunday from icy Morses Pond in Wellesley, where the words “Go Pats!” have appeared.

“I felt the team out in sunny Santa Clara needed a message from snowy New England,” says Erin Reilly, a pond neighbor.

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