Builder vows to return with 40B proposal
WELLESLEY -- Rebuffed by Town Meeting voters last week, developer Michael J. Connolly said he would seek to build on Hillside Road through the state's affordable housing law.
Chapter 40B allows developers to skirt local zoning ordinances in return for setting aside a portion of their housing at below -market rates.
Connolly said in an interview Wednesday he was "definitely" going that route, after his zoning amendment fell 10 votes short of the necessary two -thirds approval the night before at Town Meeting. The vote was 106-68 in favor of Connolly's plan to build two duplexes in a single-family zone at Hillside Road and Washington Street.
Many opponents expressed anger that the developer raised the specter of Chapter 40B before the vote.
While Connolly would not specify how large a development he would seek, others speculated that as many as 17 units could be squeezed onto the 31,417-square-foot property. The two-lot parcel is across from a town office building, the former Warren school.
In a 3-1 vote earlier Tuesday evening, the Planning Board had supported an agreement negotiated by Connolly and the Board of Selectmen that called for four residential units, each with three bedrooms and a study, in two buildings. The agreement also stipulated that Connolly's project would adhere to town setback requirements, and retain specified trees; and he would make a $310,000 payment to the Wellesley Housing Development Corporation in lieu of setting aside one of the units as affordable housing.
The Advisory Board reluctantly supported the deal, noting that neighbors felt it was making "the best of a bad situation," according to its chairwoman, Barbara Searle. The board had learned details of the agreement 30 minutes before Town Meeting and held its meeting then, Searle said.
Planning Board chairman Thomas Frisardi, who had cast his board's lone vote in opposition, said at Town Meeting the deal would set "a bad precedent that could repeat itself anywhere" in Wellesley. Many at the meeting agreed.
"We've always held the line in favor of single-family zoning," said Town Meeting member Bill Mone. "If we allow this, what is going to be the next parcel? Every single-family lot in this town would be vulnerable . . . Why doesn't this town have the backbone, like with the Grossman site, to support the site against unwanted development?"
The Grossman site in Wellesley Lower Falls, less than a quarter-mile from Connolly's property at 65 Washington St., has been in litigation for 13 years over plans by Stop & Shop to build a 50,000-square-foot grocery store there. The town recently announced a tentative understanding with National Development, new owners of the property, to work within town guidelines to develop the site with companies including Stop & Shop.
But Selectm an David Himmelberger and others noted that the town has had a mixed record fending off overdevelopment and has seen its zoning laws trumped before with 40B applications.
Wellesley took court action against Hastings Village, a development near Fiske Elementary School, after the developer sought to build 80 units in the residential area. The developer engaged the services of a 40B consultant -- whom Connolly has also hired -- and was able to put up 52 units on the site.
