Selectmen back revised mixed-use plan
Developers have applied to the state to construct 200 units of affordable housing on Route 20 in Wayland, but they are still hoping to revive an ambitious project of shops, offices, and condominiums that residents shot down last fall.
The housing development would be composed of two- and three-bedroom condos and would cover 14 acres of the 55-acre parcel, the former home of
A KGI subsidiary, Streetscape, and The Congress Group Inc., both of Boston, have formed a joint venture to develop the property.
They filed the affordable housing application as a backup in case the Wayland Town Center project falls through again.
The Town Center project was hotly debated last year by residents.
Critics said it was too big. And residents at Town Meeting in November ultimately rejected a zoning change necessary for the project.
Selectmen supported the project and have been trying to resuscitate it. They have been working with the Planning Board to jointly craft a zoning bylaw that would allow a smaller mixed-use project.
Irving still questions where the mixed-use project stands with some town boards, particularly the Planning Board, which opposed the zoning change at Town Meeting but has been working with selectmen recently on the bylaw changes.
''It seems like it's moving forward, but as we learned last time, it's very hard to get a two-thirds vote in this town," he said.
''This time we need some assurances from the town that they really want this before we invest in this Town Center and get behind it."
The housing project, submitted to the state on Feb. 27, is being proposed under a state law known as Chapter 40B, which allows developers in many towns to bypass local zoning if they promise that a portion of the homes they build will be affordable.
Joseph F. Nolan, vice chairman of the selectmen, said he expected the filing but continues to hope that the Town Center project can be built.
''I would be disappointed if we got to the point where they built the 40B," he said.
Nolan said the mixed-use proposal would give the town ''some control of the project we want, rather than no control over a project we don't want."
Selectmen and the Planning Board have been trying for weeks to work out a bylaw that they can both live with and that the developer will accept.
They have already agreed to support a significantly smaller, 372,500-square-foot project, which includes 40,000 square feet for a municipal building. It also includes 165,000 square feet of commercial space and 167,500 square feet of residential space, or 100 units.
Two articles have been submitted for the warrant for the May 3 Town Meeting, one supported by the Board of Selectmen, one by the Planning Board.
Selectmen chairman Michael L. Tichnor said he hopes the two boards will come to an agreement so that only one warrant article will be placed before voters with their endorsement, giving it a good chance of passing.
In the meantime, selectmen are negotiating an agreement with the developers to mitigate the effects of the project -- and provide a large cash payment to the town, Tichnor said.
