Good evening, everybody.

I'd like to call, to order the select board meeting.

Of September 16th.

2025.

No, I don't want to use it.

Good evening.

I'm calling to order the select board meeting of September 16th, 2025

in the great hall of town hall.

Here tonight, our select board members.

Tom Felder. Colletto Frank Beth Sullivan woods.

Kenny largest and myself, Marjorie Fryman, our executive director, Megan

JOP, assistant executive director, Corey Tesa planning, director, Eric Albini.

Mark Charney chair of the planning board.

I'd like to wish Tom Felder, a very happy birthday.

He's spending his entire evening with us.

This meeting is being broadcast. Live on Verizon channel 40

and Comcast channel eight and Wellesley media.org. And we'll be

available for later viewing on Wellesley media. This is also

a hybrid meeting, so there will be.

Others joining us on zoom.

The first agenda item is citizen.

Speak and citizen speak is an opportunity for residents to

address the board on an agen non-agenda item. Something that

is not on the agenda tonight.

Is there anyone who'd like to address the board?

Okay.

We understand there are many residents here to listen to

the presentation on the proposed development at mass bay.

As this is an item on our agenda, we will

take.

Public comments during that agenda item.

The next agenda item is the executive director's report. So

I'll turn it over to Megan.

Thanks Marjorie. I just have three quick.

Updates and reminders. The first is that starting Friday and

continuing through Saturday.

Wellesley square merchants will be hosting parents day out. And

as a reminder, the select board has authorized free parking

for that event.

So we C encourage folks to attend.

The second is to just give another plug and a

reminder for the firefighter entrance exam. So if you're interested

in becoming a Wesley firefighter, the next exam is scheduled

for September 27th.

And you can read about the entrance exam requirements and

expectations on the town's website. If you are in fact

interested.

And then lastly, a very brief update with more information,

a commitment for more information to come Weston road.

The D P w is working closely with the police

department.

To schedule the milling and paving of that section from

route nine to the Westin.

Line anticipated dates to begin.

Are September 28th with weather permitting. So stay tuned for additional

information as the, those dates are, are at this point

being finalized.

And we will get admitted, get information out as soon

as possible.

Through multiple channels.

Thank you very much. Megan, also like to welcome Jim

Roberti from the planning board. Who's here on zoom.

Oh, Tom Taylor's here too. Yeah.

Patty Mallett from planning.

We don't expect a formal vote tonight. So there is

no need for us to convene formally a joint meeting.

We'd also like to welcome D cam commissioner, Alan bakery.

Senior project manager for development and asset manager, Mike phony

and mass bay president Dr. David Padel.

And ask that you come and join us at the

table.

And introduce any other colleagues you may have with you

tonight.

Okay. I have a few preliminary words and then I'll

turn it over to you. My Marri, one point of

order.

Mark would just need to call the planning board to

order.

Oh, huh?

Call the planning board or.

Thank you, mark.

We have received several requests from residents to speak on

this mass bay item this evening.

Some of, you may not know that we take requests

to speak in advance of the meeting.

And for those of you who may not already have

done. So.

I apologize in advance. If you don't have the opportunity

to speak tonight.

Rest assured that this is the first of what will

likely be several meetings.

Meetings at which you will have an opportunity to speak.

In the meantime, we welcome written comments.

Comments, we all hold office hours. We hold office hours.

Semi-monthly.

And you're also welcome to obviously speak at our meetings,

but written comments right now.

Might be the most helpful for those.

From those of you we can't hear from tonight.

I can't stress enough that we all read every email

that comes to us.

And as I say, this will be the first of

several meetings.

Meetings and the process we will take.

To take the resident comments tonight, as it follows, we'll

hear the presentation. We'll take questions and comments from select

board and planning board members.

And then we will open it up to those in

attendance, both in person and on zoom.

To set the context for this presentation, the Massachusetts affordable

homes act.

Authorizes 5 billion in housing investments.

And contains policies to accelerate housing production.

One of those policies is to give the Commonwealth a

streamlined path to dispose of surplus property for housing.

At market affordable and public housing rates.

The division of capital asset management and maintenance, DEC a

M.

Administers the disposition of that surplus land.

In consultation with the department of departments of administration and

finance.

And the executive office of housing and livable communities, which

we fondly call E O H L C.

It's important to know at the outset that D cam

and E O H L C are bringing this development

forward.

It is not originating at the town.

And this is just the beginning of the town's process.

This is the first presentation. The planet full planning board

and full select board have had.

About this project, there have been some presentations with select

residents and resident groups.

But none so far with our boards.

Boards under the affordable housing act, D cam can determine

that a state parcel.

Should be made available for housing.

The governor and institutions of higher learning, including mass bay

can identify land as surplus for housing purposes.

Purposes all state-owned land that is not currently designated as

protected park or conservation land.

May be identified as surplus and disposed of for housing.

The affordable housing act, preempts local zoning for certain identified

parcels.

Parcels a town must allow residential use as of right.

Without requiring any special permits.

Permits any variances allow no fewer than four units per

acre.

And impose only reasonable regulations.

On five limited criteria.

Our purpose here tonight is to listen.

And ask questions. The executive office of housing and livable

communities has not yet promulgated regulations.

Within the scope of the a H.

A, so we don't yet know what will we, we

will be compelled to work within those regulations are forthcoming.

Megan or Eric, did I miss anything?

I think you captured all my good. Okay. Dr. Padell

and commissioner bakery. I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for having us. It's a pleasure to see.

You again, it's been some years since I've been to

the board, but I'm happy to be back. And I

think I'm back tomorrow.

For another conversation on other topics.

Topics. I I'll start at the beginning, which is when

I came to mass bay in 2016.

I had the realization that.

Here's a picture of our Wellesley campus, familiar to you.

It's our main campus.

As you know, we also have campuses in Framingham and.

Ashland, but that we had a recreation and wellness facility,

which is two year left the farthest building to your

left.

That was sorely inadequate for the needs of our students.

Students, it has a partial basketball court, not a full

basketball court. And.

A very crowded weight room.

It's a very rickety building.

It's not very well protected from the rain.

We needed better for our students.

Students our students, as, you know, come from.

This region, there are students who in many cases have

few other choices for college than to come to community

college.

We give them associate degrees certificates.

Certificates. Many of them are transfer students who go on

to four year colleges, but some go right into careers.

We serve about.

5,000 students, not all at this campus.

So I asked an architect to tell me what could

you imagine?

For a building that would replace this.

On this campus and he came up with a plan.

For building just behind.

The farthest, right. Part of the building where there's a

bit of a slope, a flat area.

And that looked like a very promising new building. This

was in 2016.

Soon thereafter, the town of Framingham told me that our

lease on the middle school that we had been in

for 30 years was not gonna be renewed. And that's

where we had our health science programs, early childhood and

human services.

Services. So I shifted my attention to Framingham and spent

the next few years.

Working with D cam and our legislative friends.

To acquire money from the governor, governor baker at the

time for a new building there.

And then having gotten approval from governor baker, we built

that building. And if you haven't been there.

Please do go visit. It's a phenomenal new building.

Net zero.

It serves about 2000 students.

Students and it's phenomenal. So that opened in 2000.

24.

Which gave me a chance to turn back my attention

to our needs here.

Because this facility is so poor.

In this recreation and wellness facility, we do most of

our athletics by renting space.

For example from Mount Ida. So our basketball team.

Practices and plays in Mount Ida. It's very difficult for

the students who may live in Boston.

Have jobs try to juggle it all.

By this time, all these years have passed our cybersecurity

program.

Had grown to such an extent that we needed more

space than we could give in the main building.

We have the only

associate's degree in cybersecurity education.

In the Commonwealth we have at any given time about

a hundred students in our cybersecurity programs.

Programs and they're being trained for jobs.

Where there's a great deal of demand. As you can

imagine every day we face this.

So I put those two ideas together.

To see if we could build a building that could

help both of those programs, the athletic program.

And the cybersecurity program.

Right about that time.

There was a new commissioner for D cam commissioner bakery.

Who's here today.

Who came to visit me. And I said, I've got

this idea for a building. And he said, he listened

carefully.

But at the same time, he said,

have you thought about the 85 acres that you have

on campus and maybe we can move to the next

slide.

The 85 acres.

That surround mass bay that belong to the state.

The state is very interested in making.

Housing available to a greater extent.

I had never given that a thought. In fact, I

didn't even realize how many acres belonged to mass bay.

And some of you may be surprised to see.

That mass, if you, this is an aerial view.

So Oakland street is coming diagonally down.

To the right is the main building.

There are many acres to the.

Right, which is the east and many acres to the

left on the other side of Oakland street.

Which is the west.

On that parcel. We have our parking lot for students.

Students and then a lot of other land.

That we don't use. And I know many people in

the community do use it to walk through.

And enjoy

this introduced a new possibility of funding, my new building

by looking at the housing opportunities and at the same

time.

Addressing the state's urgent need for more housing.

We brought in an architect to, to imagine this new

cybersecurity.

And athletic building, which might look something like this.

It wouldn't look exactly like this, but it might look

something like this.

We also have a soccer field.

That is not to code, so we can't use it

for our soccer teams and we can't rent it out.

To youth organizations that would like a soccer field.

So we pair these two projects together.

With the extension of the soccer fields that it could

be used by people who wanna play.

Including in the, not just mass bay, but beyond.

The new building, which would have cybersecurity education, which could

also benefit the community because we'd be happy to do

cybersecurity workshops. Everyone needs to know more and protect themselves.

And the athletic facilities could be used when it's not

used by mass based students.

Students for the community, including a pickleball court, because.

Nowadays, you have to have a pickleball court.

Which could be 12 month.

An indoor court. So it's not bound by the weather.

So this is the building that we imagine. And this

view is if you're standing.

By the flagpole at mass bay.

Looking at the main building. It's just to your right.

This morning.

The mass bay board of trustees met.

And voted to

give me the authority. They, they, they, the law says.

They have to not disapprove of the idea.

So they didn't disapprove of the idea this morning.

To put, to work the 40 acres on the other.

I'm sorry, the land on the other side, not the

40 acres.

Toward this project.

Specifically, what we've been talking about is the possibility because

decamp took a look and said, where could housing go?

DKM felt that the best location.

Was the parking lot, the student parking lot, you see

in the middle of the screen.

Which we would move to the other side of the

street.

And

keep the 40

acres around it.

Not used for housing. So the land that you see

that's already flat.

And well suited. So it doesn't require the knocking down

of trees.

What is in that field. I'm sorry, in that parking

lot.

Aside from student parking is Wellesley.

Parks yellow buses there when they're not in use. And

that's been something mass bay has done for free for

the town for certainly as long as I've been at

mass bay and probably some years before.

So that would be an something we'd have to take

a look at. And we also on the weekends.

Weekends, the town has a pickleball court in the middle

of the parking lot.

That we've just for the last six months or so.

That we arranged with the town that we'd have to

relocate.

But this is the parcel that we're talking about.

And the notion is that.

In the last six weeks or so.

The D cam team. And I have been meeting with

various Wells of groups, as Marjorie mentioned to sort of.

Talk about what we're imagining, get some feedback, get some

ideas.

Ideas answer questions.

Questions. We now come to you.

And on OCT September 25th on October 8th, I'll be hosting open

houses.

At mass bay for anyone who wants to come and

learn more about it.

Ask questions and

tell us what they think our goal is at the

end of October.

To decamp would put out an RFP for developers and

we'd see what they'd come up with.

What are some of the possibilities that they would envision.

So with that sort of overview, I'll turn it over

to the commissioner to.

Fill in some of the gaps.

Gaps be good. Advance this slide, please.

Good evening. And thank you so much for hosting us

this evening. And, and honestly, I must compliment the chair

for two things. One I've spent time in a lot

of town halls, as you can imagine in the last

several months in the affordable homes act passed. And I

think right now you have probably have the most beautiful

Ones. So you've done a really nice job with that.

The other thing I would have to say is I

think your introduction of the affordable homes act was probably

the best that I've heard from any municipal official in

terms of clarity.

And just level of detail and level of information. So

kudos.

Kudos for that as well. Thank you again for having

us. DKM.

DKM is involved in this project for a number of

reasons.

Reasons that all sort of interrelate we've got, what we

have up here right now is our sort of mission

statement, which I'm sure you all can read.

But for those who don't know what a D chem

is.

We are the state agency responsible for among other things,

planning.

Design construction of capital projects to support.

The majority of state government.

We are the owner of about 61 million square feet of

buildings.

Buildings and much greater amount of acreage across the Commonwealth.

On behalf of many parts of state government from the

29 public higher ed institutions like mass bay community college.

To the trial courts, to all the health and human

services.

Services of agencies in the Commonwealth to all the sheriffs.

Sheriffs all the correctional institutions, all the state police barracks,

et cetera.

We are also the real estate agency for the Commonwealth.

In that whenever the Commonwealth needs to.

Buy sell or lease either as landlord or tenant real

estate D cam is involved. And in fact, we are

the largest commercial tenant.

In the Commonwealth in terms of the amount of leasing

activity that we do.

On behalf of state agencies.

And we, we sort of touch on this particular project.

For a couple of reasons that touch on many of

those components of our mission.

As the president was explaining.

One of our responsibilities is to help the.

Agencies of government that we support.

Understand and help facilitate helping them meet their.

Capital needs. And in this case,

as the president explained when he outlined for us.

The vision that he just articulated at a very high

level for you this evening.

One of the obvious follow on questions that he had

for me was, do you have any money? .

And I think he was doing a really good job

asking a lot of people much more important than me.

That same question.

And the, the reality is that the Commonwealth's capital plan

is highly constrained by both by a number of factors,

including a number of, of legislative requirements.

Good sound fiscal policy and, and a lot of things

you're, I'm, I'm sure, quite familiar with as a municipal

government that limit our ability.

For how much we can borrow. And the need of

course is much greater than what we can borrow.

We are working on a number of avenues to IM

improve upon that.

But one of the opportunities to be able to accelerate

our ability to deliver.

Capital projects for folks.

Is one of the components of the affordable homes act.

Which changed the rules.

With respect to the disposition of surplus state property.

Prior to the affordable homes act when the Commonwealth.

Cell sold a piece of property.

Unless the legislature specifically directed where the money would go.

The money went back to the general fund.

And of course that creates really no benefit.

To the entity that has care and control of the

property. As in this case, mass bay, community college.

So were they to have made this land available?

For disposition at some time in the past.

They would've seen no benefit from it and the, the

whatever benefit.

Financially derived from it. Would've left Wellesley and gone.

Somewhere else in state government.

So, of course that is probably part of the reason

why this idea had never come up before the affordable

homes act changed. Those rules.

And created a mechanism whereby.

The financial benefits from the disposition of property.

Could be conveyed back to.

The care and control institution or.

Agency to help meet their capital needs, which is really

exactly what is before us today.

The other thing that is, you know, frankly really.

Important before us today, though, is, is housing.

And the affordable homes act was not really.

A bond bill about higher ed. It was a bond

bill about addressing.

The very real and very significant housing challenges that we

face in the Commonwealth.

Which are also as, as the governor has, has articulated

in, in many forums.

Forums, the very biggest economic development challenge we face in

the Commonwealth. And you know, the thing that makes many

of you in this room, I'm sure our employers of

various sizes.

Sizes and as, as am I, and I think we

all probably can commiserate about the fact that retaining and

recruiting qualified employees. One of the challenges we have is

that those employees struggle to find housing that they can

afford. Many of you are probably parent as am MI.

I'm a parent of two 20 somethings. One of whom

lives in.

My basement, the other one lives in my attic because

even though they both have full-time jobs, neither one of

them can afford.

Housing. And that is a, you know, again, a very

real challenge.

And particularly enabling young families to, to find housing in,

you know, frankly really attractive communities like yours.

Yours is a real challenge for the Commonwealth.

Many of us also have aging parents who may be

looking to downsize or, or move into more suitable housing

for their needs.

The lack of available and accessibly priced housing proves a

challenge for them. And one could go on and on

about the extent to which.

Housing is, is more than.

More than just a housing.

Challenge for many sort of social and economic considerations in

the Commonwealth.

DKM is not in a position to solve all of

those social and economic challenges.

Challenges, but as the real estate agency, we are tasked

very explicitly in the affordable homes act.

With working to

make surplus an underutilized state property available.

To help with the housing challenge.

And that's the other motivation for being here. So we

have sort of.

Two parallel motivations that align fairly well in this case.

DKM is a construction agency. We do a lot of

construction as well for higher ed and others.

We do not build housing and we will not be

the developer. We will not be the builder or the

developer. We will not hold the contracts for construction or

design of this project.

There will be.

A private party who will be responsible for that. And

I think that's.

That's important to sort of set a little stage tonight

because there may be, I I'm sure there are a

lot of questions.

Questions that folks have this evening.

Around. Well, what exactly is being proposed? What exactly is

would be built?

And the simple answer is no one knows the answer

to most of those questions yet because the party that

will ultimately be responsible for building it.

Is not known yet. They're not at the table. They,

they have not been designated.

And they are not able to sort of put forward

their input into that process, which will be significant and

important as, as I think you probably all.

Recognize the role that developers play in, in projects.

Projects, what we do have before us, though, that is

very different than if a private, this was a privately

owned piece of land that somebody was.

Trying to develop.

Developed, and it's significant in a couple of different ways.

I think one that is very important and hopefully will

we hear some important, some valuable things tonight from you

all and from the public.

Is that because

we are a public entity. We have a responsibility.

To pay attention to what is the public interest. And

there are a lot of different public interests here from.

The colleges as a public institution.

To the Commonwealth housing challenges, but also the interests of

citizens in Wellesley who are neighbors or otherwise.

Interested parties or stakeholders in the project.

And because we will be issuing a solicitation for a

developer.

Probably an RFP document. We do have some ability to

shape that.

And, and through the

terms of that RFP shape, what the development might look

like.

And one goal that I have in really every community

that we've gone to and, and talked to about housing

development on surplus state land.

Is that we don't want to just build housing. We

don't want to plop down housing that nobody likes.

Likes that is totally sort of incompatible with the community.

What we really want. And I know I'm, I've been

doing this long enough to know that we will not

achieve consensus.

A hundred percent consensus on this front.

But we do want to get as much as we

can to a place where people are proud of it.

And, and people really see it as.

A beneficial contributor to the community.

Not a burden that's being placed on the community. And,

and I, I, I hope we can find ways.

As this begins to move forward.

To help achieve a variety of goals, the ones we've

articulated, but maybe others that will come up this evening

and, and in the following on sessions.

Sessions with the project and it isn't just about building

housing or just about financing, a new construction building for

the community college.

But also meets other needs and goals.

If you could go to the next slide, I think

we've kind of gone past our slides a little bit

here, but I do want to emphasize a couple of

things about the affordable homes act. We've talked about how

it created a pathway for Ben and.

To the entities with care and control.

The other really significant

change from the perspective of the, the conversation this evening.

Is as the, the chairwoman explained earlier.

It does change.

The rules with respect to land use regulation.

And it contains a provision that's that essentially, or literally

says municipalities.

Must grant permits for these properties.

It's not a, not across the board. It's for state-owned

land that is sold through the affordable homes act. So

it's, it is a very limited.

Universe of properties that, that.

That sort of treatment exists for.

But for properties like this, it does apply.

And one way to think about it is that in

the same manner that the legislature.

And, and the constitution frankly, requires you to.

Allow churches or schools to be built. You have some

ability to regulate the rules are slightly different with respect

to this than they are with that.

But you cannot regulate in a manner that prohibits.

Prohibits the development. And in this case, the development is

the right to construct four units per acre or more.

You certainly have the right to allow more than that.

But you don't have the right to restrict it to

anything less than that. Even through re reasonable regulation and.

Housing and livable communities as the chair explained is in

the process of developing regulations that hopefully will be forthcoming.

That may provide some additional clarity on that front. And

I believe we have somebody from housing and livable communities

with us this evening. So there may be, you may

have certain questions that they would be the more appropriate

audience for.

But we

what we would, I think be interested in.

In our conversations with you and with others is.

To help understand how we shape that.

In a way that again is complimentary to other goals.

And if there are other goals that might want to

be part of the conversation.

That we can sort of collectively reach a vision.

For a successful project here, but bearing in mind that

the.

Legislature has created this as, as of right development and

the way it is also worded in that same section.

Really it not withstands.

All local or state law to the contrary.

So it isn't limited to zoning that it is not

withstanding every other.

State or local law to the contrary that would preclude

that development is also not withstood.

So it is a pretty generous.

Authority that exists, but we want to.

Employ it in a manner that is again, collaborative.

And, and hopefully yields a, a result that we're collectively

proud of.

Not one where we, we, or some developer just imposes

it upon you. So.

And if you could go to the next slide, please.

I, I do want to just also.

Make it clear if it isn't that we're not

just picking on Wellesley. We're actually doing this work all

over the Commonwealth. We have a number we've we've already

conveyed one parcel out in west mass. We have several

under agreement.

We just conducted a very successful auction, just last week

of five parcels in five different communities under the affordable

homes act.

As you can see there, we have a couple of

RFPs out right now. If you have an interest in

doing some development down the road in Bedford or, or

in my hometown of Lowell.

Feel free to look into those RFPs.

And then we have some really big projects that are

planned in a few communities you may have heard about

in one or read about that will be quite large

projects.

Projects. And then there's, this is really just the beginning.

There are quite a few additional ones in the pipeline.

And when we expect over the next several years,

one of the ways that the Commonwealth will be trying

to address the housing.

Challenge really in many communities across the Commonwealth.

Is is through this

this affordable homes, act authority for property disposition. So with

that, I'm gonna turn it over to Mike Fallon to

just give us a very quick.

Further look at the, the property itself.

Although I think president Podell did a very good job

kicking that off and then we'll transition to.

Trying to address your questions. So thank you very much.

Thank you commissioner and thank you, planning and select board

members and members of the public.

Here tonight as, as commissioner bakery said,

I really just would like to.

Very briefly share a handful of slides.

More like three, two set the context a bit more.

In terms of some initial outreach that we have conducted.

Over the summer months we heard very clearly.

As we were just beginning to speak with members of

the.

Town's staff and members of the public that.

We shouldn't try to begin any.

Full public outreach during the summer months, but we did

not want to, you know, simply lose that time without

beginning to share information, as far as we have it

at this point.

And with the help of.

Of the town's executive and planning staff, we were able

to.

Identify at least a, a handful of groups that we

were able to meet with over the last six to

eight weeks or so.

But first just to follow up on, on president pod's.

Else's description of the site on, on the left, you

will see that the overall parcel.

Collectively known as, as 40 Oakland street.

Is roughly 45 acres.

With the parking lot.

In the upper right corner, sort of the.

Northeast part of the

overall site. We also wanted to just make sure it

was clear.

That we

are focused init focused.

In our work to date.

On the Oakland street parking lot.

As the area

that for reasons, president Podell explained really lent itself to

housing.

Development. And we can see in the, in the picture,

on the right.

The beautiful surrounding Anchorage.

And in terms of current uses, just to recap what

president Podell noted.

That currently it serves several functions that mass bay has

permitted on site, including.

Its own student parking.

Some parking for

the buses of the wealthy public school program.

And also for now.

Temporary pickle courts that hopefully will eventually be replaced by

permanent indoor ones as noted.

And then

for our, for our next slide, just to note the

initial and we would really emphasize the.

Initial and more sort of small.

Group stakeholder outreach.

That we were able to do just as a way

to, again, begin to share information and begin to hear.

Areas of particular interest and, and.

In some ways, concern.

So following an initial meeting.

In late may of the mass bay board.

Straight away from that meeting on May 27th, we then.

Let members of Wellesley's legislative delegation know that we're going

to begin to do some.

Outreach regarding the project. And first.

We're able to, to brief town executive and planning staff

at that time.

And, and through Megan and Eric's help identify.

Some groups that we could begin to connect with, hopefully

over the summer. And we were able to do that.

In each of the instances that we've shown here.

The first meeting being with building a better Wellesley and

over six successive weeks.

Just up until the beginning of September.

With, with other stakeholders and, and interested residents. And so

we really.

Don't want to spend time tonight trying to recap feedback.

That we've got so far, I'll just very briefly summarize.

Because we're sure there, there will be.

Comments that that residents can articulate themselves and questions the,

the boards have, but they really.

I would say spanned in broad terms.

Four main areas to date. And so again, we're excited

to.

To initiate with the vote of mass based board this

morning.

The next phase of, of public outreach and engagement.

The first meeting with building a better Wellesley was focused

in, in.

Significant part on issues of.

Housing affordability in the need for some amount of density.

Particularly in support of

affordability.

In, in regards to successive.

Meetings concerns.

Focused on roughly three, mainly three areas with.

The first or next set regarding.

Issues of currently unprotected, but existing.

Open space and how the project potentially could.

Be a way to address concerns in that regard.

There was also concern.

Expressed regarding the proximity of the parking lot to the

under undeveloped.

Parts of mass based property.

And nearby open space as well.

Among other potential project.

Impact. And then just to summarize the, the last.

Round of outreach that we most recently were able to,

to solicit.

Those particular focus.

On the extent to which the project will be designed

and developed.

Sustainably, both the cybersecurity health and wellness center itself. And

also.

The housing itself. And so with that, we'll conclude our

slides with just we'll. We'll keep up if it's okay.

Elise for a time. The slide that notes.

The two

sessions that will be upcoming and hosted by mass bay

at 50 Oakland street in their atrium space. There was

also a press release.

That mass bay issued today to begin to.

The effort to really

let as many members of the public know and, and

interested perspectives.

Perspectives, we will also conduct for those who.

Are not able perhaps to attend.

A in-person meeting.

As those sessions on September and 25th.

And October 8th will be.

We have done with some success in the past and

online survey to also solicit.

Feedback and comment and

with that we want to determine further engagement, next steps

in consultation with, with the boards. And so thank you

for, for your time tonight. And we look forward very

much to, to hearing your, and responding to your comments

and questions this evening. Thank you again.

Thank you all very much. We appreciate that outline and.

A little bit more specific information tonight. I have one

question and then I'm gonna pass it on to other

board members.

Is tonight.

Supposed to be the official notice that Wellesley gets that

this is being.

Property designated as surplus.

I believe we have to send you some very official

looking letter that we'll get for that. So just checking,

consider yourself informed, but not officially. Okay.

Thank you. Questions from the boards.

Boards, Tom.

Tom. Thank you again. This Marjorie said.

I, I have just a couple of questions in, in

terms of process.

I, I, I don't understand why we're here having this

conversation. When the regulations haven't been promulgated.

It, it, it's not an equal negotiation to be in

a situation.

Where we have no idea.

But to have good faith in what you tell us,

those regulations are going to be.

We have to have brown rules. We have to know

what, like the mic needs to be really close. We,

we have to know.

What we're dealing with.

And, and the only way we can come to the

table and have a reasonable negotiation with you is to

see those regulations. I have no idea how you are

as far along as you are in some of these

other communities. I can't, I have a hard time believing

that they didn't raise.

Some of these questions as well.

And the, the second point I'd certainly like to make.

Is in terms of my experience with RFPs, you're talking

about going out.

With an RFP in late October.

I'm not trying to understand how you can sit here

tonight and say that you have no idea what this

project is going to look like.

When in my experience, RFPs define what the product is

that someone is bidding on.

So I, what is going to be in this RFP?

Well, first off, I understand. Happy birthday. .

But thank you for those, those questions.

And I'll take them in reverse order.

First off, I, I don't really wanna contradict the president,

but I don't believe we're gonna be issuing an RFP

in October. That's I think that was a, an, an

old overly optimistic schedule and I expected it will be

several months beyond that. And.

Exactly for the reasons that you are.

Raising, which is that I think we all need to

understand the context and we need to provide.

Appropriate opportunity for engagement, not.

Not overly rush that. So thank you for pointing those

things out. And frankly, we agree.

With respect to the regulations.

While the regulations are

allowed under the affordable homes act. It is a, it

is not a requirement that HLC issued them.

And in fact, they, they are given the authority to,

if they feel they're necessary.

And what they have promulgated already.

Is some guidance, which got some information out that actually

is, is intended to provide.

The, the context that I think you're looking for to

frame some of these conversations.

It is unlikely that the regulations are going to deviate

significantly from that guidance. I think there will be.

Probably a little clarity on some, some points, but I

think there are a lot of things that we can

have a very helpful and, and constructive conversation about based

on the guidance and frankly, based on the text of

the law itself as well.

I'd like to talk if I can.

Okay, Jim, hang on just a minute. I recognize Collette

and then we'll come to you. I can't, you're very

small on our screen.

Oh, but I'm big in person. .

I'm happy to let Jim go first. If that would

make you, Collette is happy to let you go first.

Okay, because

you know, I love all you guys, but I, I

kind of disagree with.

The process that we're

using tonight. And I wanted to get that out on

the table.

You know, I, I would say before I get into

that is that one is that I'm a hundred percent

in support of this project at one at 180 units,

it'll even be willing to support more.

Cuz I think it's an ideal parcel.

But I would say to the state and the, the

college, I think that you need to give us a

conservation restriction on the remaining land so that we.

Can make sure the neighbors are happy that they're not

gonna have all those tricks cut down in two years.

But my process issue really is, is that if, if

you know, and I I've been at this for 30.

More than any of you guys, 35 years. And what

I've learned in 35 years, if you drag out 70

or 80 people.

To a meeting and you don't let them speak.

You are gonna cause more high hearted feelings and more

problems going forward than you want.

So, I, I, I I'm respectful of your other agenda

items, but I looked at all of them and they,

they seem very ministerial.

Agenda items that could also be handled in a meeting

next week, if you squeezed it in, I mean, I

used to do that all the time with the planning

board is squeeze an extra meetings. So I would urge

you to let any one of the 80 people that

are there, cuz I've urged, you know, it's an embarrassing

to me now. Cause I've urged all those people to

go.

And we have the state's people there, you know, the

top dogs.

And I think listening to them, they're saying to themselves,

they want to hear from the people they don't want

to hear from talking heads like me or Marjorie or

Collette and Tom, you know, they want to hear from.

What the neighbors say. So I'm gonna yield all my,

the rest of my time, but I wouldn't.

Wouldn't suggest that you cancel the rest of your agenda.

And we stay here as long as we have to,

to hear all the neighbors and all the, all the

abuts in their concerns. And then we, you know, plus

positive negative in between, because we've had such a problem

with Wellesley saying that things aren't transparent, they're done behind

closed doors, and we've just don't want to do that.

So thank you.

Kenny

a few things. I appreciate the presentation and I do

genuinely.

Appreciate the outreach that you've done. I think that goes

a long way to.

Making people feel more comfortable.

I also want to acknowledge that.

Mass the state of Massachusetts has the right to.

Build on this property.

So I, I understand that.

That said you're here tonight for a reason, which is

you want our, the town support.

And

I've talked to a number of people.

Some support this, the vast majority do not support this,

that I've talked to.

So what

are you going to give the town of Wellesley in

exchange for our support of this project?

How does the significant burdens associated with.

The project, significant traffic.

So I'll get to another question, but it's gonna increase

the traffic on Oakland street.

Significantly you have

environmental issues. You're gonna overwhelm a school.

I mean Fisk where these kids would go to school.

Is not set up for a number of students to,

to come into this school.

So there's significant burden on the town. What do you

expect the town to get in exchange for your, for

our support?

And I have one more question after that Marjorie.

I'm sorry. Did you say one more question after that?

Oh, okay.

Really, I think the, the, the reason that we're here

tonight and, and I don't believe this is the end

of the conversation. I think this is more of the

beginning of the conversation is really to understand. There we

go.

Sorry. I .

Our, our goal this evening is to begin the conversation

with you and help us understand.

What's important to Wellesley.

So that as we move forward, we can try to

find a way that you will see some benefit.

Out of what ultimately emerges with this project.

I don't want to come here and pretend to know

what's important to Wellesley and say at the forefront or

the beginning of that conversation.

Here's it take it or leave it. I think what

we really want to hear from you is, again, what's

important. What, what are you and what, you know, you've,

you started to articulate some of the things you're concerned

about, and that's important for us to hear and, and

think about it will be important for the developer to

hear and think about when we get to that stage

and the process.

As well. And I think the goal is the more,

we can have a, an understanding of both the desires

and we, we heard some.

One desire on the, from the last speaker about conservation

restrictions on remaining property.

The more, we can hear some of those things, the

more we can evaluate them and see if we can

meet as many of those as, as possible.

Thank you. The, the other question is.

Much more specific.

So a lot of people in the town are talking

about 180 units.

Being put on five acres of land.

And then I've heard a significantly higher number.

I assume that you've done the calculation of how many

units you can put on that property. So what is

that number?

Well,

the there isn't a single answer to that question.

I think it's really the.

One way to look at it. And I think it's

clearly way, the way a lot of people are looking

at it is that they're looking at that very simple.

Four units per acre minimum. And they're looking at 45

acres and everybody's doing the basic math and saying that's

180 units.

That is a valid

exercise. And that could be the end result.

A piece of land that is five acres can hold.

You know, five, one acre, lots.

Lots or it can hold, you know, a very substantial

building. We have a five acre parcel.

Right in downtown Boston, it's gonna be part of this

initiative.

And I expect that one will hold several hundred acres.

This is not downtown Boston. That would not be appropriate

here.

But the answer may lie somewhere between 180 and some

larger number.

I think as we articulated, we have.

The two sort of significant state objectives with this project.

One of them is to help address the housing challenges.

Challenges and on some level.

There's a, a desire to see with each opportunity that

we make available under this initiative.

The most progress we can make toward that goal.

And the other goal is that the college is obviously

looking.

For the ability to reinvest whatever the return from this

disposition is.

In meeting their, their capital needs that they've articulated.

And that will be more successful.

The more value that is created, and that also probably

relates to how many units get created.

But I don't think there is a.

Specific number that fits. I think that really becomes a

question of design and other factors that that's not my

question. My question is under your calculation.

How many is the max you could put on that

property.

I again, I, I mean, it's a mathematical exercise here.

There's 45 acres.

You can do four per acre, four units per acre

by right.

So my math

equals 180. What is your math equal?

Well, I, I think I just did the same calculation

that no, you talked about what the development may or

may wanted do don't I don't think this is helpful.

What cross-examining no, no, I, I do think it's helpful,

Jim and Jim, not, it's not, I have floor, not

you, people don't want hear you. I think everybody in

this room would like to know how many units.

Could go on that property.

And I think from the applause, you would agree meeting

law. Okay. But just let him talk. Jim, Jim, the

bad Jim, your Jim, it's not your turn. I'm gonna

ask you to let the commissioner speak. You guys ask

me to come. You, you had your opportunity to speak.

This is not a fair meeting. Okay.

You were just loaded for beer.

Yelling at these guys, let the people speak. Can we

mute? But in the end, realize you don't have the

upper hand.

Commissioner.

Well, thank you. I, I.

Don't see this as anybody.

Seeking or having the upper hand. I think really what

we're trying.

What we're hoping for is a, a constructive.

Conversation and ultimately a collaborative relationship that we're looking for.

And I know that you are looking for me to

tell you a perfect.

Specific number. And unfortunately I don't have one.

Because it really is what the maximum, that could go

on that property. I mean, you could build.

Thousands of units on that property. I don't think anybody

here thinks that's a good idea or that's actually going

to happen.

But there really is. No.

Maximum number there. It is not a simple math exercise.

The simple math exercise.

Is actually the minimum number.

It's the minimum number that's as of right under the

affordable homes act. And that is the 180 units.

The maximum, I think is a product.

Of evaluation of what makes sense.

What is there any benefit to greater or lesser density?

Is there greater, is there benefit to certain.

Design choices that may be made.

That may make it a more or less successful project.

Are there other constraints that may affect what's really possible

or viable?

Around capacity of infrastructure or other factors.

And I think there's a lot of pieces that go

into that. Some of which.

Can be part of the conversation with the state ahead

of the, the issuance of an RFP.

RFP and other parts of that conversation won't even happen

until there is a developer who will be responsible for

actually constructing.

Financing constructing the project and, and some of the constraints

on what's possible may be financial.

So I, I apologize that I can't give you a

number. What I'm take from what you're saying is your

view of the law or your interpretation is 180. Is

the floor.

They're actually is no legal max.

That you could build on that. Yeah. The, the law.

The law says that the municipality.

Must issue permits for not.

Less than four units per acre.

So the way we view that is that that becomes,

it's not less than, so that is essentially a floor,

correct? I think the conversation around.

Any more than that is a more complicated conversation, including

a lot of the factors that I just described.

One way to think about it is that the municipality.

Under that you have been granted some authority.

It may not be authority. You wish to exercise. I

fully acknowledge that.

But you, you have the authority under that to permit.

More than four units per acre.

You don't have to exercise that authority, but you have

that authority.

The last thing I'll say is notwithstanding what Jim said.

I do agree. We should allow.

As many people that want to talk tonight to talk.

I'd like to recognize representative pish.

Just recognize she's here, here.

She's here. I'm oh, she, oh, I'm sorry. We just,

sorry. We wanted to recognize that you are here.

With your staff.

Thank you. I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to speak.

I'm trying to read text and listen and respond all

at the same time.

I just wanna say one thing about.

Resident comment.

We have been given very clear guidance.

That our policy, which we have a policy on public

speak and we have been.

Told that the more consistent we are in our public

policy.

And the exercise of that policy.

The better we are in keeping with state law.

And we don't want to cut off discussion on this

issue, but also please recognize this is the first conversation.

So before I move on to somebody else, commissioner, I

just, I just, I have to say this. If you've

been watching.

What's been happening in Wellesley. You'll see that there is

a lot of tension.

Between people who want more housing.

Between many, many needs for different kinds of housing at

different economic levels.

And a town meeting that did not react well to

a project that was not specific.

And asking us to respond to something that we don't

know.

That we have no idea about.

Is is very, very difficult.

You could build 20 units on that five acres.

And probably make the money you need to make, to

allow.

Mass bay to build its building.

But telling us that there's no floor.

Makes everybody here. Very nervous.

And not necessarily

eager to engage in a conversation at that level.

So I really urge you to give us some idea

about what you have in mind.

Don't speak for me. Okay. Don't I'm not speaking for

you, Jim.

Well, you just said people here.

Okay. The P I don't, you don't speak for me.

I don't, you don't speak for the planning board.

Tom Taylor.

Unmute. He knows.

Knows. Hi, how are you? Can you hear me? Yes,

we can. Oh, hi. So I I'm gonna be brief

as well. Cause I think people want to hear from

citizens as well, but a couple of questions more on

the, on the process of how the process works.

One is, does the state actually sell it to a

private developer? So it's an X number of acres that

would be sold.

That then becomes the locus of all.

Development and permitting and all those kinds of things. That,

that's the first question. The second question is what are

the obligations for affordable for affordable units?

Normally our zoning bylaw calls for 20%, 15% at low

income, 5% at moderate income. So I'm curious.

What the plans would be there since I'm not sure

our zoning bylaw would actually kick in in this case.

And then thirdly, I, I, I guess I would.

Also sort of agree with Jim that other 80 to.

90%, 85 or 90% of the parcel.

Being protected as green space.

However, however we define protected.

Is is a really valuable thing that would, I think.

Assuage a lot of people in the town.

So that's enough. I'll yield my time.

Great. Yeah. Okay. Sure.

You wanna respond? I, I, I, I certainly can. Yes.

If you'd like me to, yes, please. Okay.

And

so the first one, the mechanics of this is that

yes, indeed. The state will sell the property.

And there will be a private.

Developer who will be responsible for the.

Development, whatever, whatever it ultimately becomes, they will be responsible

for planning.

Designing and constructing

and ultimately occupying that, whatever that development is.

And so part of, I, I, I really do appreciate

and understand some of the frustration.

And what I hope is that we're coming here.

Acknowledging that there are a lot of things that are

not clear yet. And in fact, that is actually in

my.

Experience having once been a municipal official as well.

That it is actually often more valuable and you can

have much more constructive input.

When somebody is coming, basically open to suggestions and open

to input.

And that, that, that, and we are saying to you,

we can incorporate what we're hearing.

And what I hope we hear from the public this

evening.

Into our thinking about how we make the property available

to a developer.

The alternative is we come in here and tell you

exactly what it is. And.

There's a ton of frustration because there's no opportunity for

input in that scenario. And that's not the scenario that,

that we want to put forward.

Affordability is a good example or illustration of that.

What we have been trying to do.

In, in all across the Commonwealth is be respectful.

Of municipal inclusionary zoning policies.

And trying to wherever that is.

Feasible and does not cause.

A project that would otherwise.

Have to be allowed under the affordable homes act to

become financially infeasible. We are hoping to honor.

Local affordable zone or a local inclusionary zoning policies. And

we would hope to do that here. And I think

one thing that is probably not in dispute here is

that this.

The, the market here is very, very strong. So development,

feasibility.

Is probably much less of an issue here than in

many of the other places that, that we are working

under this initiative.

And again, I think the con the concept of.

Putting conservation protections on undeveloped parts of the property.

As part of a project is a very.

You know, that's a very constructive piece of input.

That we can incorporate. So.

Just as a means of example of how that might

play out.

And hearing that, how hearing that might change, how a

project might move forward.

We could under the authority of the affordable homes act.

Just make the 45 acres available and a develop, leave

it up to a developer to decide how to build

it, and whether to sprinkle 180 units across it evenly

or concentrate them in some way.

We also could issue an RFP that is much more

restrictive and says.

You know, you get the benefit of four units per

acre, over 45 acres.

But you can only build in this part of the

property and the rest of it has to be, if,

if one of the things we hear is that conservation's

important, the rest of it would be we'd look to

try to work with you on that. So that's an

example of the kind of thing that is why we're

here.

With a fairly blank page to really try to, to

fill that in together.

Not tell you what the answers all are.

What Beth? I ask a question. Yes.

Thank you for your straightforward answers.

I have a couple of questions and the first one

is, so I, what I'm hearing is this is a

business deal, right?

The college wants to

generate revenue to create a certain set of facilities.

So for me, the first question is what's the number?

That you need to build the facilities because to me

that sounds like.

The piece that the college is interested in.

And the second piece is.

Who are, who is the town negotiating with?

On the RFP and on the.

Conditions that make sense to us? Are we negotiating?

With the college, are we negotiating with D C.

Are we negotiating with EEO, H L C.

So those are my first two and I have a

couple others.

But that I think would help.

Address some of the, like,

where are we trying to get to.

Yep. Absolutely. And I'll let the, the president speak to

the first question and then I'll speak to the second.

When we had that building.

Not quite designed, but imagined by an architect.

He envisioned the building.

Coming out several years away.

So he estimated it to be a 70 million project.

I don't know if that's exactly what it would be,

but that was his imagination. Maybe.

Three years ago.

We would not expect to get the full amount through

this.

Land, we would get some of the money. Other ways

we would apply to the state through a process where.

Colleges and other institutions of higher education can apply for

capital funds.

We would be engaging in a capital campaign.

To raise money as well. So we're not looking to

fund the entire project.

From this one, transaction.

Is there an amount, like, can you give us a

sense of he, he estimated it to be 70 million? No.

Is there an amount for this transaction? Oh,

I have no idea.

We we've. So I'll tell you why I'm asking. Yeah.

If.

This transaction, if there's an amount.

It might help us understand.

The scope and scale of what you expect out of.

It might also help us understand.

If there's the potential, you have a lot of land.

Is there another shoe that's gonna drop.

So that we can all kind of understand where we're

going, that this is maybe the first cuz this, this

is a.

Pretty broad, sweeping new initiative that the state has.

And as a town, you have a huge amount of

land.

Within us that could potentially.

Be leveraged.

To enrich the academic

facility, but also

it would be better if we knew kind of.

What that looked like, and I don't know.

Whether that's a question for mass bay or that's a

question for D cam, but.

I think it would help us to know.

Is there other land on the campus that you're looking

at?

To bring this to fruition now or in the future.

I can say that the college has no intention of

selling off any of the rest of the land. It

hasn't been brought up at our board of trustees meeting.

It's not in our strategic plan.

I can't speak to perpetuity.

But at the present there's absolutely no.

There's been no discussion about it. Okay. I just had

to ask. Yeah, because yeah, we've had a heck of

a ride in Wellesley.

The second thing is I think we all appreciate this

is our first meeting.

Can you

outline what that looks like for us, because.

There's the 30 day notification. There's unclear.

Guidelines there's

there's, you know, I we've got a room full of

people here that are kind of.

On eggshells. And we'd like to know.

How much advocacy, how long.

And what does that

look like, is it before the RFP?

RFP after, during the RFP, after the RFP.

RFP. So that's one piece of it. The other piece

is.

When you go out to RFP.

RFP quit. Part of the negotiation have been.

That you

transfer that forest.

To Wellesley for density.

On the parking lot. It was like something really clean

like that. So,

we never worry again.

About the forest. So I.

It's not clear to me, if that's a, a thing

we could do.

Lots of very good questions there.

And the answer to some of them is just, yes,

.

So in terms of the question about.

Where, when, when can we talk? When is there opportunity

for engagement and, and discussions?

It is before, during, and after probably less during, but

probably more before and more after. And, and before is

the most constructive time to be engaging with.

This various state entities that have an interest here.

Particularly D cam

the, and after is probably a very key opportunity to

be engaging with the developer party who at that point

will be known, who is not known now. And the

more specifics of whatever they're proposing will be known at

that point as well.

The value in negotiating with us sooner.

Is really that some of what comes out of those

conversations will absolutely.

Inform the RFP document and will become.

Guardrails around the range of possibilities of what developers can

propose.

And your last suggestion I thought was a very, that's

an incredibly interesting one.

And I think

to go back to what Mr. Lars was asking before

and seeking a kind of.

What's the ceiling versus the floor question.

Part of the reason why.

The, or one of the opportunities that, that exists because

it is a floor and it is not.

No one is neither the municipality nor the state is.

Prohibited from using that authority to do something bigger. If

we agree.

Is that the

if what is actually sold to a developer is only

the five acres.

But it carries the benefit that was associated with the

larger parcel.

That is an illustration of.

Not less than four units per acre. That is a

use that is a creative use of the authority.

That you have under the affordable homes act.

And that we could employ together if that were your

goal. And I'm not.

Presupposing that that's more than just a hypothetical suggestion at

this point, but if that's.

That's creates greater comfort.

Than just a conservation restriction.

That is a path that we might have available to

us and can, can certainly explore.

The other very specific question you asked was really around.

Who are you negotiating with? And.

And, and, you know, I'd like to say we're discussing,

we're conversing, we're collaborating and we're trying to reach an

agreement.

With all of us.

But ultimately somebody has to sort of be the lead

in that exercise for the state. And I think for

the purposes of the real estate transaction, that is decamp.

Cam, you know, obviously

DKM cannot act in a case like this, unless the

college is comfortable making the property available. So the college

has.

A very, very significant role there.

They're also, of course, is that housing and livable communities

is both the state policy setting.

Agency around housing as well as the regulatory agency around

housing. So.

Both their policy objectives, inform what D C a M

does on behalf of the state.

And their regulatory role will set some parameters.

For all of us around what can, and can't be

done with any, you know, under the authority of, of

this, of this act.

And the other thing I, I, I also want to

just make sure that we don't lose sight of.

I think it is incredibly valuable to be thinking about.

The, the dollar value that is.

Important to the college, but I want to make sure.

We all don't lose sight of the fact that there

are two state objectives here.

One of them is around.

Helping the college meet their capital.

Needs and goals. The other is around helping the Commonwealth

address a regional local and statewide housing challenge.

And meeting one completely doesn't necessarily mean you've met the

other to the maximum of what one could.

Nor do we think we're gonna solve the entire Commonwealth's

housing problem?

On any parcel, any single parcel and certainly not on

this one.

Thank you. And I'm just guessing maybe you could get

back to us with the timeline.

Because I, I understand it's a little.

Vague, but I think all of us would feel better

if we had.

A schedule and I do wanna be clear. Mass bay

has been an amazing partner for the town and a

really terrific neighbor.

And no matter what happens there in a butter, right?

So they have a vested interest.

So, thank you. Thank you. Any other bookmark? Yeah, I

was just gonna give Kathleen and Patty a chance to.

To talk either of you have something to say.

I think these really good discussions so far I'll yield

my time. I'll yield my time. So the public can

speak.

Go ahead. Come.

Yeah, when you go

I just have a few comments and I'll try and

be brief because a lot of the I've been touched

on, but I just want to give some feedback.

As I prepared for this meeting tonight, it was really

challenging.

Because we didn't have plans to react to. And I

think you've heard that several times tonight, not just from

us, but probably from the public already.

And this is a very different process from what we

are used to.

And so I think that just to give some color,

you know, Wellesley this, and I'm sure this is in

many towns, it's a very hot topic after figuring out

for TB and your safe Harbor threshold, then complying with

mass N B B T community law.

Law we're doing our own strategic housing plan. Aside from

that, there are independently brought developer plans that come to

town meeting.

Housing's been almost a constant discussion for the last.

I don't know, 10 years. And it's a, it's a,

it's a, it's a sensitive subject, very sensitive. And so.

Once a narrative gets out there.

With facts that may or may not be the not

incorrect and there's no ill will here, but there's they're,

as we've discovered tonight, there's, there's, there's not a set

of facts to actually go on. But once that information

gets out there and an NAIP gets out there, it

is very, very hard to then be sad and, and

build trust and build confidence. And, you know, we like

all, a lot of.

Government in general, building confidence and trust is very challenging.

So we want to create that.

What I'm hearing tonight is that.

This is a process that's very different from what we've

done before and what we typically do with our processes.

Is, we have a website where the public can go

to and find out.

What is the public process? Where are we in the

public process?

How do you make your voice heard in the public

process? What are the opportunities.

What are you looking for? Because this is so different.

I really feel that maybe this is an opportunity for

you as you go through this process with other municipalities

to get some sort of form and function in place

that serves us and serves other people as you go

through this, because I think that would really help.

My specific questions were, you know, what is being proposed

for development? Is it the car park? Is it more

acreage? Is undefined. I think the answer is we don't

know. .

It could be one of any of those things and

that's that, and that's not, the trucks are the problem.

We've touched on it.

Is this meeting the 30 day. Notice again, we consider

ourselves advised, but not noticed.

You know, one of your slides that said to us,

the goal of the project is to share with DKM.

Cm and incorporate into the RFP, our goals. I think

you've heard some of them tonight, but I'm gonna reiterate

some of them.

We have, we we'd like to see.

Preservation of open space, whether that's through conservation restriction or

a land swap or some sort of transfer of land,

whatever that looks like.

We're looking for affordable housing. We're looking for workforce housing.

We have our own inclusion and rezoning goals that we'd

like to meet.

We have sustainable construction goals. We'd like to meet them.

You know, the density is a question and I, and

I understand like this conversation tonight has been very illuminating

because we may want to give on density to get

something else, but density four uni units per acre is

certainly what we were, what I would thinking that this

was.

Phased out, but that might be different, different.

And then we have to figure out what do we

do with the, the school bus parking and, and things

like that.

The other thing that I think we need more clarity

on is how, and when do we discuss infrastructure, upgrades

are necessary and we don't know what those are until

we know what the project is and how can we

advocate for what we think is necessary until it's a

little bit further falls is a little bit the check

in the air here.

So I really think that there needs to be a

structure for working group discussions.

Between damp the college and our staff. So we can

figure these things out in an ongoing basis.

And the, I, I appreciate you giving the feedback that

today the trustees gave their approval for not disapproved. And

that was one of my, my questions, but I think.

I, I think I've shared what I wanted to share

tonight. There's certainly been a thread. I think we've all

shared and I hope that's what helpful feedback at this

point.

That was enormously helpful.

Yes. A lot of really, I was gonna start calling

on our citizens, but go ahead, Megan.

Just because we have the opportunity. I had a couple

technical questions please, which have been.

Sorry.

Just cause we have the opportunity with the commissioner. I

have some technical questions.

Questions. So

this is a unique provision because the town is used

to thinking about it in terms of zoning. Right? So

zoning does not apply. We're looking at.

Statutory provision.

Yet, then you're applying.

Zoning or zoning attributes through site plan. So a couple

questions, one.

Based on the

discussion four units per acre.

So in zoning, depending upon the zone, there's a potential

to aggregate those to a density.

On a lesser, you know, square footage of land within

your ownership.

This is not zoning case law would not apply to

this. So you would need the ascent of the town

to do that. Correct?

So

I I lemme just try to restate the question to

make sure I'm answering the specific question. So is this

referring to what Ms. Woods.

Suggested of a basically transferring.

The development capacity of the whole parcel to a smaller

part of the parcel and then allowing.

The town to acquire the, or to acquire the balance.

Yes. And no, because take that aside, whether what you

do with the land necessarily.

But in terms of, so right now the development potential

is four units per acre, and that would.

Under the statutory provision need to be dispersed along 45

acres.

Unless the town agreed to something.

Different? No, the

the our, our understanding of the statute is that the

parcel is 45 acres.

The as of right minimum.

Is four units per acre. That does not mean you

build four houses on each of the acres. It means

you have, you could, but it also means that basically

that parcel.

Is entitled to four times 45, which is the 180.

We've talked about.

Should the town wish to offer more?

In exchange for whatever it views as benefits. And again,

that's part of what we're beginning the conversation around this

evening is what our, what, what is appealing and of

interest to the town. If anything.

Then that's also possible.

It could be more than 180, but that at that

point we need, we would need.

The, the town would need to.

Feel that they were getting benefit and be part ofthat.

The the way the law is, is constructed in this

case.

It is essentially saying that.

You have the right to regulate.

Five specific things.

And I don't remember exactly what they are off the

top of my head. So apologies for that. But they're

generally.

Around the, the sort of design of, of the site.

You have the right to employ site plan review.

To the project, but if that will not occur until

there's a developer and an actual specific project proposal. So

again,

your engagement with us is part of the role that

you have. You have a additional role to engage with

them later in the process.

Also you

may choose.

To limit.

How much you regulate, you cannot regulate.

To prohibit the four units per acre.

But you could choose to regulate in a way that

does not prohibit.

A greater number than four units per that is something

the town has some control over.

And you have the ability.

To utilize zoning and other tools to exercise.

That regulatory authority that it does give you.

So when you say that you have the ability to

regulate through zoning,

so to your point.

You know, it it's sort of a.

A blank slate right now with a, with a.

Development potential.

But then you have the ability to apply site plan,

which then looks at bulk massing, setbacks, et cetera, height.

And then it then falls into the zoning realm.

Realm. So how does that zoning get secured? Does that

a town meeting action or is that through some other.

Regulatory provisions. So that's just a negotiation.

So this, this is a, so that's my point. It's

state law that is being convoluted with zoning.

In in site plan review.

And, but the two aren't the same in terms of

a typical.

Process. So I'm just trying to understand when your dimensional

requirements, which would be as, how would they be established?

You know, so it's like, oh, here's a project. And

we're gonna then establish the guidelines to meet that project.

Or, you know, typically you would do that in anticipation

of a project to then meet.

A specific density look, feel.

Yep. Yeah. And I think that.

A way to think about this. And, and I, I

really.

Completely acknowledge that this is.

Foreign new and different. I I've heard that. And, and

you are absolutely right to be recognizing that. And the

questions you're asking are.

Are all very legitimate, valid questions in that context. And,

and we're.

My, my hope. I, I think I heard a.

One at one point a comment about, you know, wanting

to, to sort of.

Engage in a sort of trust building relationship here. And

I'm hoping to be as candid.

As I can be. And one of the ways I'm

being candid with you is when I'm, I'm gonna be

freely admitting, there are answers. I don't know.

We are not all of this is fully.

Tested or fully vetted.

What I can tell you is that we are having

conversations like this.

In a variety of communities.

And we are reaching different conclusions based on.

The different needs and the goals of, of those different

communities.

Some of them are quite.

Open to

not having a whole lot of regulation or not having

a whole lot of restriction and just taking advantage of

the fact that.

This is a vehicle that lets them achieve a lot

of their goals around housing production in, in many, in

certain cases.

Others and, and 1, 1, 1 very prominent example.

Looked at this and said,

there's a handful of things that are.

Important to us over and above.

The the, the

sort of the basics and we're willing to, they sent

us a letter that basically said we're willing to permit.

Five units per acre instead of four.

Provided you address certain affordability.

And certain sort of character.

Of the, the design of the buildings beyond the things

that the law allows.

Allows explicit regulation of that seemed like a pretty good

arrangement. And we included that letter in our RFP and

said to the development community that that's an RFP that's

on the street now.

We said to the development community, that that is, you

know, we're gonna be looking for that.

Another case for an RFP that is on the street

right now, the municipality actually.

Chose to enact zoning. That is actually more generous. And

I don't think I'm not suggesting you will do that

here, but it just, as a means of illustration that

is considerably more generous than what the affordable homes act

allows. And that instant the under underlying zoning of allowed

15 units per acre, as of right.

So we've issued that RFP and said, you gotta comply

with the zoning. .

It will produce the housing, but it also then allows

all the other things that the town felt was important.

And it's a form-based zoning code that they have in

that community.

And the form of the building was what was really

important to them in that location.

And so us basically saying to the developers.

You need to follow that zoning.

Was a way for the town to achieve what it

was looking for in that instance.

In, in another community, we're talking with them right now

about entering into a fairly.

Sort of complex memorandum of agreement that touches on everything

from allowing them to build a new well on part

of the property.

To ensuring that the development is enacted in a certain

manner.

But at a density that's probably one and a half

times. The, the four units per acre, minimum.

So there isn't a single rule book. I think, as

you saw, we also auctioned off five properties and the

developer who's gonna buy them is gonna go have this

conversation with the town without D cam present at all

in those cases.

So what, what, what I think we hope with, with

you all? And I think we recognize that there is

a, a level of thoughtfulness, a level of sophistication.

In both the elected and appointed officials and also in

the, the community at large here.

That I think we can take advantage of and leverage

into a really constructive and creative.

Way of using the new authority that this law provides.

Provides and the, the granted very different sort of path.

To development entitlement that this law provides to end up

with a result that meets the state's goals.

But also reflects

reflects the interests of the community. And.

We're we are open. And by the reason I bring

up all these examples is to say, to try to

demonstrate that we're open to working with each community and

trying to find the right answer.

For each community within

the, the law that we're working with.

Thank you and, but just one other. So the parking

lot that exists there, those five acres.

Serves a purpose to park the vehicles for the computer.

College.

So how will that parking?

Where will that be either relocated or.

Absorbed as part of the project.

Also not yet determined.

D cam is commissioning a parking study to be done

in the next couple of months.

So we'll know more after they've had a chance to

look at the property and figure it out.

Alright, Tom.

Tom yelling now.

As I sit here, listening to the discussion and thinking

about the audience and some of the communications we've had

via email.

I, I don't understand why the town of Wellesley wasn't

given an opportunity.

To talk to you, Dr. Padel, and to the school,

you, you know, the select board office here, you know,

the board.

The select board, we weren't given an opportunity.

Before you came in here, invoking the affordable homes act.

To talk about what form of development might enable you

to reach a financial goal?

Without our being under the gun.

About the liberties that the state has in terms of

the development of this land under the affordable homes act.

And that troubles me because.

I think there are various ways under our zoning bylaws.

Bylaws when we could have helped the uni, the univer,

the school.

Reach its goal. When we could've.

Interacted with the community under our zoning bylaws to see

whether we could reach an agreement.

Because as I listen to you, commissioner.

What I'm hearing is that you have a right to

develop four acres per four units per acre.

But every time you bring up a benefit that might

accrue to Wellesley, you talk about having to go higher.

So the message that I'm getting in this audience getting

is that if we want anything out of this deal,

we're gonna have to agree to greater density than four

units per acre.

And I don't think that's the message that we like

or that we appreciate.

That's not an equal negotiation.

And so I think given the land values.

And the value of housing development in Wellesley.

That we could have come up with something far less

drastic and its impact that would've helped the, the school

with its financial goal and helped us in terms of

B.

Moderating and any development over there.

So I, for one, and I'm sure other people in

the audience don't appreciate the approach.

Where we're suddenly here where there's an unequal.

Balance of power in terms of the potential.

Outcome for development and the invocation of the affordable homes

act.

Kathleen.

What I'm hearing today.

Is that we are in a.

What I'm hearing today is that we're in a unique

situation where.

We are talking to the state.

As opposed to a private developer.

And I believe that Wellesley and the state.

Share mutual have mutual interests.

Interests that we value very highly.

Which has been pointed out conservation of undeveloped land. We've

got a beautiful swath of undeveloped land there that is

precious and precious to our town.

We, we

but we also.

Or at least most of us really do want to

have some affordable, more affordable housing in Wellesley.

And we want it done in the we'd like it

to be done in the right way, in the right

place.

And

I I see that this could be.

If done properly, and I think there's potential for it.

Done properly and could be a win win.

If we wanna bring mass bay into it as well.

So I

I just want to.

I have some amount of optimism here because we are

talking to the state.

As opposed to a private developer.

I also want to say that, or I wanted to

ask whether you have seen.

Or you've done any negotiations with non-profit developers, and if

you're willing to take something less than top dollar for

the property in order to.

Be able to work with a developer that might be

willing to.

Provide a much higher percentage of affordable units.

Because they've paid somewhat less for the land.

I'm just interested to know if.

I would love to see ASCO a significantly above and

beyond.

Our inclusionary zoning.

Requirements. And I think the state probably feels the same

way if we could. So have you seen, or have

you experienced.

Any develop any

negotiations with nonprofit developers in your.

Travel so far.

Yes, the

best example of that, I think right now is that

the.

A piece of property in north Hampton.

The winning proposal for that property was indeed a nonprofit.

Non-profit we also have a project in the city of

Boston right now where actually it's a partnership between a

non-profit and a for-profit developer, but ultimately.

For toward the end that you are articulating an interest

in here.

Of much greater affordability. The nonprofit is really the lead.

And that's a, that's another example. And I fully anticipate

there will be others as well.

I think this is an example.

Of something that we

you know, we're just, just like, I think you all.

Recognize, hopefully that this isn't the end of the conversation.

It isn't for us either. And this is the kind

of thing we can take back and, and explore.

How we can consider ideas like that one.

To because it, it helps to.

Achieve some of the housing goals in a very real

and meaningful way.

While still helping the college achieve.

Its goals around their capital facility, cuz that's ultimately.

What, what, in the event that we're not.

Maximizing the return on the property in this case.

There's a direct relationship between.

What the college is trying to achieve, and that.

There may be other ways we can help with that

as we think about trying to balance all, all of

the things that are important. And, and I know.

I, I really do appreciate and sense the frustration around,

like, we don't have all the answers tonight, but really,

again, what's valuable. What's really valuable to us is, is

hearing these things so that we can then.

We can go back and we can really look at,

okay, how could we do that? How, if, if that's,

if that's a vision that really, and I'm not, not

attributing it to everyone else, but if that were a

vision that like was the consensus coming from the community

that you wanted to achieve, exact what you just described.

And a key to doing that is that there's less.

Proceeds from the sale of the property itself than one

of our challenges would be to go back and figure

out, okay, is there a way we can do that?

And, and that's an example of why I, I.

Feel like you are in a better position.

Positioned than you would be. If what was sitting, if

the people who were sitting at this table,

were a developer that had a fully developed proposal.

And we were just, you were essentially saying what you

did and didn't like about it.

And they were in a necessarily defensive posture around.

That's what you know, this is what I've invested in

and I've gotta defend it. We're not there. We, we

really are coming here to genuinely openly listen.

Understand the things that are important and see if we

can find, I think what you.

I liked your term. It's what we hope to have

is a win-win win where the town, the college, and.

The state achieve its their goals with this property.

Okay, Megan, I'm gonna ask you to recognize people who

have asked to speak, excuse me. Can I ask, I

just go ahead. Mark would like to say a few

things as the chair of the planning board.

So

obviously, this is a pretty important, I've had my hand

up for 10 minutes.

Here. Okay. Thank you.

So, no I'm gonna speak now.

Your second. Okay. Could you just mute that, Jim? What

I wanna say here is I've recognized the chair of

your board. Please let him speak. Go ahead, mark.

Okay, sorry about that.

So, this is obviously a very important matter for the

planning board. You can't as the chair of the planning

board.

I just wanna make it very clear to the community.

Not.

Wanna make it very clear to the community.

That this is a topic that we will.

Absolutely put on our agenda.

To track this and follow this.

And commit to the town that, that we will do

everything we can to.

Help and facilitate this process to go as smoothly as

possible.

I think it's unfortunate that, that we're in this situation

on the one hand.

In the sense that by having.

You know, this land owned by the state.

For all these years, we've, we've sort of, we haven't

paid attention to what could happen. And obviously now with

these changes in the law,

now, these things seem like they're going to happen. It's

happen. The last time I got muted, so, okay.

And so sorry about that. And so I just want,

I just want people to know in town that, that,

that the planning board will take this very seriously being

we will work with. Okay. In a certain.

But I don't wanna say anything else because I want

you guys to speak. So I think that's all I

wanted to say. I say one more thing. So we're

not gonna have any more to discussion from the talking

heads up here and we're just gonna go to the,

to the floor. You can shut. Thank you. Okay, Beth,

go ahead.

So I

I really appreciate. Can you give me some time to

speak after I complete what I say then Marjorie will

recognize you. Yes. Yes. She's a listen. What I would

like to say is she's ignoring me because she doesn't

like what I have to say. I'm very grateful.

That you've been very honest with us and.

This is a little bit like a fire hose for

us and you've stimulated.

I'm sure. A lot of ideas.

Ideas for things that we could talk to about.

So one thing that would help me is how broad

is your definition of housing?

Would a CRC

C an age-friendly community. Do all of those fit.

In your definition of housing, and then I will.

Be done and I'll let the chair take over.

The affordable homes act provides.

Provides a definition of housing purposes.

Purposes. So if you take a look and I don't

want to misquote what it is, but if you take

a look, it is a fairly broad and inclusive definition

of housing purposes. That also includes affordable housing purposes, which

is also defined in the act.

And I encourage you to take a look at that.

And certainly I think some of the things you mentioned

are I would, I would believe are.

Included within that breadth.

Jim. You've been recognized before. I'll give you one minute,

please. Cuz we're trying to let, why public speak that

you have asked us? You just you're ING the public

from speaking right now. Okay, please. Lemme, let me say

this. What I wanna say is I think the select

board as.

A group came in much too hot tonight.

With these gentlemen, these gentlemen are here.

To tell you and explain to you what your goals,

their goals are. One, their goal is to help the

school.

Get a, a new $70 million building and two.

To board housing to build housing, not essentially affordable housing.

Everybody's.

Everybody's two years back thinking affordable housing is the new

game. The new game is housing.

So they're willing to give you to give you a

CR I think if you agree to the density,

so if you ever read, getting to yes. You'd know.

That you can't have it all your way town.

The town has to give something up. The state has

to give something up.

And under the theories of get to, yes, everybody in

the end can be maybe not happy.

But gave something up to the, to the common good.

And the alls I've heard from the select board tonight

is we don't want to do this. We don't like

that. Let's like, let's just sit down.

Make a deal and go because.

We don't have the upper hand here. I know he

didn't like me saying that, but it's the truth. It's

a little craft.

But at the end of the day, if we get

a CI on the, on the open acreages, we build

2, 200 5300 units there.

We're it's a win-win for everybody. The state wins, the

school wins. The town gets the land. Now the town

can't get everything.

The town. Well, we want everything mark.

Thank you. I just want to.

Let you know, Jim, if you interrupt anyone else in

this meeting, you'll be removed from the, from the, the

meeting. Okay. That's the warning. I never signed the corner

card. That's okay. That's the warning. Just wanna throw it

out there. No, thank you. I've never signed the court

conduct down. Meg, would you plea? Oh, court, go ahead.

Just before we move to the public speak portion, I'd

like to, in addition to recognizing that representative Pius is

here.

West Stanton from her office is here in Garrett. Casey

from Senator cream's office is here as well. So.

To lighten the mood. We'll welcome them. And I'll turn

it back over to the chair.

Thank you very much. Okay, Megan.

Those of you who wanna address the board, please come

to the front. You know, you've been given an order.

So please come to the front. We're gonna ask Kathleen

to share her mic with you because the people watching

at home can't hear. If you don't use a mic.

The first person is Carolyn Fox. We're gonna ask you to

limit your comments to three minutes or less.

Thank you very much.

The button's pushed.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to speak.

This is really an extraordinary.

Evening watching.

My town government at work.

Wow. I live on Standish road. I've lived there for

over 30 years.

It's sort of the defacto cut through for people who

want to go through from Oakland to route nine.

And I've heard you describe the land as surplus. What

we have in the roads around the area.

Is the opposite of surplus.

We have no sidewalks.

Sidewalks. We have no shoulder.

The roads are narrow. There's no room for a bike

lane.

In fact, I have noticed.

Noticed that Putney road, when people turn onto it from

Oakland, they're assuming it's a one-way street.

It doesn't even have a line down the middle.

Nor does Standish road. So this means that people walk

their dogs, push babies and strollers bicycle, and run and

use motorized scooters.

Scooters without any margin of error.

With local traffic, this can be kind of manageable, but

things have changed in the 30 years since I've been

there.

The roads are the same.

No margin, no sidewalks.

Sidewalks since probably about the time of the pandemic, people

have started getting more.

Landscaping done on their lawns more regularly.

So every week.

People seem to have there, there are landscaping trucks parked

on the.

Road.

Series of maybe three trucks at a time blowing leaves,

which means that not only is the visibility.

Reduced because they take up about half the road.

But because

the workers are blowing leaves.

Leaves. The sound is such that there is no.

Sense of whether there's a car coming around. I know

that when there is.

Construction taking place. Usually the Sheriff's office is on site.

Nothing like that with the trucks.

All right. Also.

Loads of delivery trucks that started during the pandemic. Great

idea. But a lot of these trucks, again, use Standish

road as a cut through.

They don't know what they're doing.

What

oh, you see I'm so I apologize. I've just taken

notes here and I'm just kind of.

Blown away by the intensity of this meeting.

Okay. Let's see what we have here.

You have about 20 seconds left. Thank you.

Also

everybody, the landscapers, the cyclists, the drivers in the cars

are texting.

Wearing headphones.

They're there are narrow misses all the time.

Several years ago, a car ran over my neighbor's dog

in the road. Didn't even realize it. I didn't see

it, but I heard it. We're at three minutes, Ms.

Fox.

Please wrap up.

It's not a good thing for kids to see in

the neighborhood.

And more density.

Means disaster.

Thank you.

Anne Lonza is number two.

Hi, Anmar Alonza 18 Oakland street.

I was in a meeting last night where it was

revived reminded that we don't often remember to thank our

elected officials. You sit there and listen to all of

our complaints and our gripes. So I just wanna start

up by saying thank you. Thank you all for listening

to us and for being part of the, this process.

I think that might be my last applause I get,

but I'm gonna say that.

For me I'm I'm with Kathleen here.

This I see as an opportunity for Wellesley a win,

win, win.

And the big win in this. And you all know

I am a housing advocate, but the big win here

is Centennial park. And that forest.

We cannot.

Lose sight of that prize.

And I, 20% affordable is great. Love more, but I'm

not gonna ask for more affordable housing and give up

that forest.

We need that forest. We all already think we own

that forest.

So what I'm gonna ask everyone here is to remember

that forest. When you think about all the other things

you want.

I think probably we're all uncomfortable with the fact that

the balance of power has shifted here.

We don't have all the power like we have and

we're in Wellesley. We like having the power.

This isn't that situation, right? We have a state law

to comply with.

And we need to understand something is gonna get built.

But we want that forest.

We need that forest and.

To all of you guys, if you get us that

forest.

You will be remembered. You will have an honored place

in Wellesley history.

Please, please get that forest.

But I do think it's win-win win because I think

we can get the forest.

I'm just everything I've heard tonight from these guys, we

can do that.

And we can meet some of our housing needs.

And we can let the co the college build facilities

for students, students who are not necessarily as privileged as

the kids who grew up in Wellesley.

By giving them the facilities they need.

They can become more productive members of society.

Pay more taxes not become burdens. This is all good

all around. And I I'm really excited and I hope

that everyone here can get excited about this and figure

out a way to make this a win-win win for

Wellesley and for the whole Commonwealth.

Please don't lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Thank you.

Ezra Engelbert was here, but I think he jumped off.

So he was on zoom. So then Megan McLeod, I think

she had to leave.

So we're up with Joe Flynn, John Flynn, John Flynn. Sorry, John. Okay.

It's okay.

I, I would wager a guess that a lot of

people in this room may.

Be slightly worried about the state of democracy in America.

But as a resident of Wellesley, I find this very

exciting.

I think it's alive and well here, which is a

great thing, but I'm not talking about.

Democracy. Good evening. My name is John Flynn. I am a

resident of Wellesley at 31 Brook street.

I'm also a board member of the Wellesley conservation land

trust.

Michael Tobin, the president of our land trusts board.

Submitted a letter in advance of tonight's meeting.

On behalf of our board. I want to echo Michael's

comments that he made in that letter, but also add

on a few of my own.

The mission of the Wellesley conservation land trust.

Includes protecting and preserving the natural environment in Wellesley.

Open space, particularly large.

Interconnected parcels of high quality.

Ecologically diverse land.

Is essential to maintaining a healthy and sustainable natural environment.

As a result, protecting open space is a top priority

for the land trust.

The mass bay property includes about 40 acres.

Of healthy Woodlands that are adjacent to and contiguous with.

Other important natural areas, including Centennial park.

Longfellow pond and Rosemary Brook from which Wellesley draws some

of its drinking water.

Those 40 acres are crossed with trails and are well

used by many of our local residents.

Residents given its location and lawn sanding use, many people

would be forgiven for thinking.

Incorrectly that the mass bay Woodlands are protected from future

development.

The discussion tonight makes clear they are not.

And this is a mistake that should be corrected.

The, the mass bay Woodlands are a critical.

Natural resource for Wellesley and the state.

They cannot be replaced. We know that when open space

is developed, the result is permanent.

And irreversible, there is an urgent need for investment in

both housing and education, but these priorities must be balanced

with the need to sustain.

A healthy, natural environment.

Accordingly, we urge the town to take the lead.

As it has done in the past to protect the

undeveloped portion of the mass bay, Woodland from future development.

And the Wellesley conservation land trust is eager to work

with the town.

The college and the state to make that happen. Thank

you very much.

The next person is Leslie Hanrahan.

So, yeah.

Sorry, it's taking me a, a little while.

I'm kind of slow.

I have a pointer too. I wanna just wanna see

if it reaches there. Oh, good. Okay. Leslie, speak right

into the mic, please.

Could I have the first slide, please?

The board has em in front of you. We'll we'll

post em online, but it it'd be easier to just

go through. Well, the audience won't be able to see

them. And I think they're important. Why don't you start?

I'm gonna press pause for a second. Why don't you

start talking and I'll put 'em up as you're talking.

Okay.

My name is Leslie Hammerhan. I live at five Putney

road and I'm a 40 year resident of Wellesley.

I'd like to start with slide. Number one about our

neighborhood.

And share with you.

Some things, the, the area of focus that I wanna

talk about tonight is the parking lot.

Which is 180, the 180.

Housing units. And I'd like to.

Show that. Okay. Sorry.

Thank you.

So the area that I wanna oh,

hold, I dunno. Sorry. It's tricky.

The area I wanna focus on. Oh, sorry to go

back. Jump at just one. Sorry.

The area I wanna focus on is this.

Pink square. The proposed 180 units.

And I wanna share with you that the college serves

a large.

The college is right over here in this area and

serves a large part-time population that makes our neighborhood very

busy during the week, but quiet in the evenings and

it, and at other times, and that's very important. So

in the evening, it's quiet on the week weekends, it's

quiet. And during the summer it's quiet.

There's a state group home right here for the disabled,

the Grantland neighborhood in the St. Estates neighborhood, which are

home to 200 houses.

These are 10 to 15 square feet, lots, which is

different than a lot of other areas in town, which

range from 2030 and 40 square foot lots. So this

is a very dense.

Neighborhood. And what we're proposing is.

To oh, and then we have of course, an 80

bed nursing home with assisted living facilities and then the

most important area.

The state forest, which everyone has said is perceived to

be part of Centennial reservations. So there's 80 acres right

here, which.

Is absolutely must be preserved, but I think.

Where we might differ in discussion is how to preserve

that.

So if you double

the housing in this area.

You're gonna have, you're gonna have significant degradation of the

state forest and the Centennial reservation. Next slide please.

So here.

Again is the, oh gosh.

Is the green. I I've lost my pointer. The.

The proposed area of 180 units is in the rectangle

and the green areas, the animal migratory patterns that everyone

who lives in the neighborhood knows about. And you could

actually cover the whole area with green. And that's where

the, all the animal travel into the floor into Centennial,

down to Longfellow.

Pond. And those are the 100 foot buffer zones. Next

one you have about 10.

15 seconds. I I've got stalled though from I, I,

I paused it. Okay. All right.

So we wanna protect our largest ecological asset, which is.

The the large green area, the black square is again,

right smack dab in the middle of our largest.

Largest green space in town. We only have Boulder Brook

and the north 40.

Left. And I'd like to switch to the last, just

to, so just wrap it up to wrap it up.

Yes, please. The next one. I'll I'll go right to

the last slide.

Instead of, of building on this five acre land.

Land parcel with 180 units or more.

The state could fund a state-of-the-art educational program for mass

bay college. So, so needed so important.

We can conserve the 40 acres and we can restore

the five acre.

Parking lot to forested in wetland areas, according to the

government.

The governor's executive order number 61 18. And I urge everyone

to refer to that and look at that as an

option. Leslie, I'm gonna ask you to wrap it up,

please. Well, let's leave this slide up so that people

can see it. Okay. But I'm gonna have to move

a on. All right. Thank you.

Get up person up is.

Online. Hold on one moment.

Hold the list, but have my up and to sign

up than two minutes. I'm really very sorry, but I'm

sure there are other people who would've liked to speak.

And we viewed more than our, a lot of time

for public comment.

Please send us your comments.

Comments, everybody else in the audience, please send your comments.

Comments, we will have many additional meetings on this.

And we invite you to visit us in office hours.

There are office hours.

This week and in two weeks.

And every two weeks thereafter.

Let us know what he saying before we came.

That we had to say then that we wanted to

speak.

We were not in

that's why we extended the.

Public speak time.

Jeff Prada. Yeah. And it's on our agenda.

Yep. Jeff is on zoom.

Commissioner Dr. Perel one more. Oh, oh, I'm sorry. We

have Jeff Prada on our list and the last one

was.

Tom Rashid. Oh, I thought that was it.

I'm Tom circle. Thank you very much, sir. But, but

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff Prada is online. Hold on. Jeff. Prada

is first Marjorie he's on zoom. Yeah. Okay. Oh, okay.

Jeff. Sorry. Okay. You want me to go? Yeah.

okay. Thank you. My name is Jeff proud. I'm

here on behalf of sustainable Wellesley, a nonprofit.

Organization dedicated to sustainability issues here in Wellesley.

We previously met with the mass bay and the D

cam teams to discuss their plans for developing a portion

of.

Of the campus for housing and, and also the idea

of setting aside the other portion for conservation restriction.

I just wanted to say, and others have said this,

but I just, it would be remiss in not saying

how much we do appreciate.

Mass bay and D cams early engagement with us and

with the community.

During the meeting, we used the opportunity to remind them

of the town of Wellesley's goals of reducing emissions by

50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

And emphasize that this project could help contribute to that

goal.

We also were fully supportive of the idea of protecting

a portion of Centennial park that is on the mass

bay property with a conservation restriction or something similar.

Tonight. I just wanted to speak to encourage the select

board and the planning committee to keep these emissions goals

in mind.

When considering this project.

You know, while it's great that the DK mission statement

includes decarbonization and.

Mascot has been built in NetZero building and Framingham.

So, so everyone in the room wants sustainability. You know,

we have seen.

Other developers in the past, who don't prioritize these coal,

so sustainable Wells, they wants to encourage.

Both mass bay and D cam and the select board

and planning committee to make certain that any parcel that's

sold includes binding commitments to meet these goals.

Including an all electric building.

No gas lines and a high lead certification.

Since in addition, I want to emphasize that sustainable transportation

options will need to be addressed.

As the property is not close to the town or

mass transit.

And finally, we would hope that the project would be

limited to the current parking lot space and.

As mentioned previously would

have restrictions present protecting the surrounding park.

We hope that the select board and them planning departments

can work with mass bay and decamp to lock in

these.

Sustainability parameters for whoever builds on the property and like

someone did earlier. I just wanted to thank everyone in

the room and you all for, for your time and

all that you do for the community.

Thank you.

So thanks very much for yielding your time.

My name's Paul White. I'm a resident at 1 32 Oakland street.

Let me start by just echoing the feeling that I'm

sure you've gotten from people in the room about the.

Very severe traffic issues that we currently face on Oakland

street and, and the massive increase in those issues. I

actually had a car come off Oakland street and crash

into my, into my lot, actually going in through my

trees and shrubs. The, those problems are gonna be massively

exacerbated.

But, but what I really wanna speak to is something

that has not been raised yet.

And that is the, because we're rightly talking about the

public issues that, that we're facing and that the zoning

board and that you are entrusted with dealing with, but

there are also.

Private issues that are gonna exist here and they are.

Potentially the rights of people who.

Travel through the parking lot.

And enter into that area of land that we saw.

On the map there, it's not Centennial reservation. It's land

that apparently is owned by mass bay.

But I've lived here for 25 years. And in all

of that time,

there has been a sign in the back, right corner

of that parking lot, letting everybody know that this is

an entrance to.

Centennial and that they are obviously being invited to use

the parking lot and to park there.

And it raises a very serious question about whether or

not there has been the creation of a public easement.

As a result of that activity so that whether or

not there should be zoning or not zoning, there's a

very real question about whether or not there is a

public easement that should prevent any development of that parking

lot, if it is going to impede or prevent the

use of a public easement. And so.

The first question two or three questions that are raised

by that are simply informational questions that.

Can be obtained by a, by a freedom of information

act request, but I hope that the college would be

willing to just provide some of this information to us.

I know that there's gonna be a meeting on September 25th.

I don't know if there's a general counsel of the

college, who's available to answer these questions, but there are

at least three.

One is, was there an express easement recorded or granted

by mass bay over that area of the land to

allow people to access the parking lot?

And enter into the, the wooded area where that signage

exists.

Exists the second is, is there any restriction in mass

Bay's ability to sell or repurpose the land?

That is plainly being used for public recreation or as

a right of way. Is there a, is there a.

Restriction in mass Bay's ability to do that. And that

would probably be a deed restriction or something like that.

And then thirdly, is there an agreement with the town

of Wellesley to maintain or allow public.

Access to that land, because if there is an agreement

with the town of Wellesley, then that's certainly something that

would give rights to citizens of the town of Wellesley

with respect to whether or not.

That that access point should be simply disregarded and done

away with if this development takes place clearly.

People are not going to be able to AC to

access that area.

And there is no other, just so it's clear to

everybody. There's no other possible way that those cars are

going to be able to drive from local neighborhoods and

get people into that wooded area. There is a small

parking lot at a at Centennial park that is frequently.

Completely filled to capacity. So people can't park there. And

that's why it's essential that there be a parking area

there. So that, that.

Wooded area can be used. So it's obviously a matter

of huge public.

Importance that that land be preserved. You're you're at three

minutes, Mr. Wright.

Sorry. You're at three minutes.

I then I'm I'll wrap up, but the, the, the,

the use is, is no good. If you don't have

a, an access point. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Before I turn it back to our guests. I just

wanna say that the commissioner has asked.

That residents of Wellesley share with them.

Their interests in this particular project.

It would be most helpful if you would write to

the select board.

And list or describe the interests that you would like

to things you would like to see?

Things you would like to protect things that you are

interested in so that we can continue the conversation.

With the state and with mass bay and I turn

it back to you, gentlemen.

I want to thank all of you and all of

you.

For the input and for the opportunity to present.

Where we're going. If we had had a fully developed

idea, people might have said, wait a minute. It's fully

developed. So we came to you with an idea that's

in development.

So the input is very useful and very timely. And

I do hope.

Many of you will attend the, the mass bay.

Events on September 25th and October 8th.

Starting at, I believe we'll do an announcement publicly. I

think it's at six.

In the atrium, which is on the second floor in

the library.

In the building in Wellesley.

I just, I, I also know it's getting late, so

I just want to echo the thanks and real, genuine

appreciation for.

I want to echo the thanks and the genuine appreciation.

For the very thoughtful observations comments that were shared by

both the members of the public and also the town

officials who are here this evening. I, I, I am

really grateful for that.

And I think I learned some things this evening. I

think my team learned some things this evening.

And I think we really look forward to a robust

and constructive collaboration and conversation going forward. And, and I

hope we can achieve that. Win, win, win, or maybe

even a few more wins. Cuz I think I heard

a lot of other perspectives and I think our goal

always in government is to try to come up with

something that, that meets and achieves as many of the.

Goals as possible. So thank you all.

Thank you for being here. And again, mass bay is

holding open public sessions on September 5th and on September 25th and

October 8th. For those people who are interested in attending. Thank

you all very much for coming to tonight.

Youn. Oh, so I will adjourn the planning board.

Portion of this joint meeting. Second. Thank you. Thank you

for joining us.

How are you doing?

Person folks, we need to continue our meeting. So we're

going to ask please that you file out of the

room quickly.

We'd now like to invite.

The board of library, trustees to the table, we have

to convene a joint meeting and make an app two

appointments to that board.

Here. We're good.

Okay. It, oh, we have that works better.

We'd like to welcome members of the library board of