Officials rekindle talk of Town Center
The newly elected chairman and vice chairman of the Wayland Planning Board met the day after they were elected last week to discuss ways to smooth the board's review of the controversial Town Center project if it returns before the board, the vice chairman said.
Over the last year, relations turned acrimonious between the Planning Board and the developers during meetings that dragged on for hours. This winter, voicing frustration with certain town officials, the developer tabled the project.
Bill Steinberg, a newcomer to the Planning Board who was elected chairman by its members, and vice chairman Ira Montague, who has served on the board for four years, talked about improving communication, both with developers and among board members, and providing more structure to meetings, partly by limiting discussion, Montague said. Steinberg said his talk with Montague was private and declined to comment.
Montague said the meetings to discuss Town Center last year were "this side . . . of miserable," and he felt the disagreements were driven by politics and personalities. He said he'd like the board to take a fresh look at the project if it's resubmitted.
"I don't think it should be that kind of battle when it comes back," Montague said.
Steinberg, who has 30 years of experience in real estate, including working for developer
However, Wayland resident Dawn Davies said she considers the election of a chairman with no track record on the board to be "appalling." She said she wishes someone with experience had been given the reins, and she wonders what it will mean for the project.
"I'm terribly concerned," said Davies, who is among the opponents of the Town Center proposal, a mixed-use project eyed for 55 acres along Route 20.
Steinberg, who was elected to the board last month, said he doesn't see his inexperience on the board as an issue. "I thought new blood would be good for the board," he said.
In some ways, he said, he is the most experienced member since, through his work, he has entered into complex agreements with municipalities. "I've been before lots of planning boards," said Steinberg, who has a business buying and leasing small commercial properties. "I'm on a different side of the table this time."
One of the developers of the Town Center proposal, Charles R. Irving, a partner with KGI Properties of Boston, said he's pleased with the selection of Steinberg.
"I doubt there's anything we could put in front of him that he hasn't seen before, which is great for a Planning Board chair," Irving said. "He seems to have a strong interest in taking care of the town and he seems to understand the complications of building a project of this size."
Irving had said he would not bring back the $100 million development, which includes housing, retail and office space, a municipal building, and a town green, unless new chairmen were elected to the Planning Board and the Board of Road Commissioners. The road commissioners have not yet discussed their leadership.
Seats on both boards were on last month's town election ballot, and the developer, some town officials, and advocacy groups pushed for new members, hoping for a change in leadership.
One new member was elected to the five-person Board of Road Commissioners, and Steinberg was one of two new members on the five-member Planning Board.
Irving, who pulled back the Town Center project in January, said last week he was still waiting to see whether the Road Commissioners would elect new leadership before resubmitting.
"We need to know where both of them stand before we move forward," Irving said.
The Town Center project was first proposed in 2005. A zoning change that was required for the project was defeated at Town Meeting that year.
But after the project was downsized, it received the needed zoning approval last year. However, the proposal was still under review by town boards when Irving pulled it back.
Supporters of the mixed-use project are excited about the town green that would be created and say the town desperately needs the payments from the developer and increased tax revenues. Detractors cite the gridlock that the sprawling project might cause.
