N40 Charrette October 1, 2026

So thank you everyone for coming tonight. This is the North 40 Community Charette, We're going to imagine, discuss and shape the future of the North 40. And to begin tonight I'm gonna introduce chair of the select board Marjorie Freiman for a few comments.

Good evening everyone, and thank you for being here. The Select Board would like to welcome the more than 200 residents who are here tonight for the discussion envisioning for the future of the North 40. I would like to introduce the other members of the select board who are here. Vice Chair Tom Ulfelder, Secretary Colette O'Frank, Beth Sullivan Woods and I didn't see Kenny is Kenny here? And Kenny Largess thank you everybody. The Select Board would like to thank the members of the planning team for this charrette. Executive Director Megan Jopp, Assistant Executive Director Corey Testa Public Information Officer Stephanie Hawkinson, Transportation and Mobility Manager Sheila Page, Sustainability Director Mary Beth Martello, Select Board Member Colette O'Frank

Smith, Fire Chief Steven Mortarelli, Assistant Chief Chuck DeJohn-Domenico, Planning Director Rob Wachilla, National Resources Director Brandon Schmidt and GIS Manager Mike Thompson. In addition, we extend our thanks to all members of the Select Board Fire Planning Natural Resources Sustainability and Facilities Management staff who are here tonight to assist us. The high school custodial staff has been extremely helpful and provided invaluable assistance with logistics to accommodate the large number of people here tonight. We are also grateful to Wellesley Media for recording the meeting for us. Tonight's agenda includes two main parts. A history of the North 40, subsequent planning events, efforts and evolving municipal needs led by Executive Director Megan Jopp

and an exercise for your table to work together, and imagine the future of the North 40. Many residents are here tonight because they have a particular interest in the fire department's master plan for new and renovated stations. I'd like to take a few moments to address what the master plan is and is not, and what the select board has and has not done. The board has asked for public input and is listening to and reading everything we have received. We've received dozens of emails about the master plan, including one today that read, and I quote, we are outraged about how the select board went about selecting this site for a new fire station. And going this far along without input from us, the taxpayers of this town. nothing about this statement is correct.

The select board has not selected a site for a new fire station, nor has any process proceeded along without input from taxpayers. The board, along with the planning group is studying the future of the fire service in Wellesley. All materials related to the master plan and the history of the North 40 are on the town's website, and we ask that all residents familiarize yourselves with those documents. Here is what has happened. The Fire Station Master Plan was begun in June 2025 to study two questions. What does the community need from its fire department for the next 30-50 years? and what location provides those services most effectively, safely and responsibly.

The master planning group was comprised of Chief Mortarelli, Assistant Chief DeJohn Domenico, former chief David Soar, Megan Jopp, Glen Remick and Joe McDonough from Facilities Management Eric Arbini and Brad Downey from the Planning Department, and Brian DuPont IT Director working with Jeff Shaw and other consultants from Context Architecture. and additional six firms consulted on the project on response time, fire codes mechanical electrical and plumbing civic and structural engineering and cost The study took approximately a year and was completed and presented to the select board on June 3rd. Master plan facts, FAQs, meeting recordings are all on the town's website. The first task for the planning group was to conduct a needs assessment for fire service in Wellesley.

The analysis showed that both existing fire stations are undersized and cannot support modern Fire Department operational needs or adequately support firefighter health and safety. Moreover, there are deficiencies in terms of housing new firefighter apparatus. Neither facility has space for critical decontamination of personnel and gear or the ability to separate firefighter living quarters from the contaminated apparatus. Finally, neither station can be expanded appropriately to accommodate all current needs. Together, these conditions create extreme urgency to address the shortcomings in our current fire service conditions and adequately support firefighter needs.

The study further showed that Station 1 at Weston Road and Central Street needs to be replaced, and that certain operational and administrative staff could be relocated from Station 2 on Route 9 to a new headquarters, which would allow for a small but necessary expansion of operational space at Station 2. An objective list of 14 criteria was created to evaluate the suitability of any site under consideration. The planning team studied all potential sites in town of one and a half acres or more that they could identify within a radius that would meet national fire protection safety response time of four minutes near the existing station one. Wellesley needs two fire stations to provide for equitable, adequate and safe response times to all parts of town.

Simply renovating the existing headquarters building on Route 9 will not be sufficient. The study did not begin by looking at the North 40 and deciding that it would be the perfect place for a fire station. Rather, it endeavored to find the best possible sites against which the operational and development criteria could be evaluated. Multiple potential sites were studied and the list was narrowed down to 12 for further study alongside the predetermined criteria. Two locations on the North 40 received the highest total scores. A third location at 515 Washington Street was also selected for further study and preliminary fit tests were conducted on each of those three sites. The town currently owns the property at North 40, while the property of 515 Washington Street is within Morton Park

and protected under Article 97 of the amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution as parkland, under the jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Commission. Since June 3rd, the Select Board has been reviewing the Master Plan and asking and answering questions and has held two preliminary discussions. Select board meetings in June and September have provided for public comment, and questions on the master plan will continue. Critically, no site has been chosen. The Select Board has not decided where a new station will be located and further extensive study must be conducted through the feasibility stage, which will definitively reveal what site provides the best opportunity for the fire service to effectively protect the public safety of all town residents.

The decision on one or more sites to study through feasibility will not be made for another few months, and the feasibility study will include staff and town residents. Funding will not be sought any earlier than annual town meeting. Tonight, we are asking attendees to focus on the future of the North 40 parcel as a whole and how it could serve the entire community with any potential number of uses. In a moment, Megan will review the process that led to and followed the town's acquisition of the property. And you will be asked to imagine and discuss the ways in which could address and enhance town needs. One final comment about the fire station,

Select board members and staff learned that town meeting members and residents have shared opinions and information with others on the proposal to locate a new fire station on the North 40. Some of the information that has been shared contains misleading or incorrect statements. The planning team has prepared responses to those statements and we invite you to pick up a copy of those responses as you leave tonight. Thank you again for joining us tonight and I'd like to turn it back over to Megan Jopp.

Good evening, Megan Jop executive director So this is an amazing turnout, and I love to see the youth that are participating. Thank you for coming. That's amazing. So before we begin, I just want talk about what tonight's format is going to be about. So we know people have come with different levels of familiarity with North 40, and in some cases, some strong views about its future. And we totally respect that but to get everyone's opinion tonight is a working session so it's not a traditional public meeting or Q&A format I'm going to spend a short amount of time giving everyone sort of the same high level background, and then the conversation shifts to you and your tables. rather than questions, debate or statements directed to the town from the floor. The discussion happens at your tables. This is not about

persuading your table to adopt a particular position. We're asking you to work collaboratively, test ideas and if you don't agree jot that down because we want to hear that too and why that is. You don't have to change your mind. You don t have to reach consensus, we just want you to document what the discussion is and we have some questions in there to help you focus that discussion. and I know some of you came for a more traditional public meeting, and this may be a little different than you anticipated. And we appreciate your willingness to try this format. So we're going to set the stage and we'll have a conversation. And we'll listen to what you have to say. So these were some of the questions that you came in. What new opportunity can be located on the North 40 and how could the North Forty benefit the whole community? Some of you were able to answer that question, some weren't if you get a chance on the way out.

If you haven't felt that you've had enough opportunity at your table, please feel free to stick a sticky note or there's our QR code we'd love to hear you because those questions we wanted to get on your way in, that captures your first instinct. Because I know everyone's coming in with nothing. Nothing. That's what we want, nothing. And so, but at your table you're gonna find maps where the main portion of meeting will be working on the exercise and to define your tables vision. and we want you to think about space, competing needs, constraints and trade-offs. So just to give a high overview of the history, right up front is Don McCauley who led the North 40 effort as a select board member. and gave a presentation which we have put online for anyone to watch from the 2015 town meeting. So an opportunity to acquire 46 acres from Wellesley College came about in 2014

Before the purchase, the town undertook in really rapid speed considerable study including environmental analysis traffic wetlands. We conducted an appraisal we looked at highest and best use and we also did several community workshops Town Meeting unanimously approved the acquisition in January 2015 and I'm going to tell you having been there, for the first time in my experience it was a $35 million acquisition, there was not one question. So importantly, when the town acquired the property for the $35 million, the objective was to secure an unusual long-term asset and preserve choices for the community. It was very clear we were there to provide choices. The town currently did not have a space for every discussing need at the time. And so we also went to every department, every board, every committee and got their consideration why we should... And the question was

Why should we acquire this land for municipal purpose? and just looking at the slide too. So we bought it to control the future, to protect open space so that purchase and sale agreement does require us to maintain no less than 50% of the property as open space in perpetuity and I'm gonna get into that a little more So the town's use actually predates the town ownership of the property. From 1955 to 1960, the town leased a significant portion of the site from Wellesley College for use as municipal landfill. Instead of putting it up on the screen, you have it on your table which will more clearly delineate where that landfill AUL So the history still affects the property. After the acquisition, the town completed environmental investigation under the mass contingency plan for remediation of that landfill. and that resulted in an activity and use limitation.

So, that's not an arbitrary restriction it reflects the historic municipal use of the property and establishes limitations we have to respect as we move forward in perpetuity. As I just mentioned, the purchase and sale agreement established important commitments including no less than 50% of the property remaining as open space. It also addressed the community gardens which I know is an important point where the town agreed to maintain them for three years. There was not a commitment at the time to continue that indefinitely, although the town has licensed the garden to residents well beyond three years It doesn't diminish the value of the gardens or other existing uses, including the trail system. But there was not a commitment when we acquired them to maintain them. and so part of that we just want to remind people that you know when we acquired it, the configuration was intended to involve.

So we're not erasing that history where we're looking forward When we acquired the land, there was deliberate financing choices. The acquisition wasn't structured as an all or nothing decision between preservation of future use. We did not acquire the land for as parkland So the town made choices in how it financed it. We protected a substantial portion of the property with community preservation funds, so 13.12 acres and you'll see on your map a delineation of where we'll ultimately put the conservation restriction that will be protected in perpetuity, and we expect that likely to be held by the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust. The remaining two portions were both tax-exempt bonds and taxable bonds. So I'm just going to give you a high level overview of what that means. Majority of town acquisition is tax exempt or tax exempt entity, So when we finance a school, finance Tolles Parsons Center, finance fields, et cetera for municipal purpose.

You're very limited in what you can do to lease that you have a five, while your borrowing the money only a 5% wiggle room for anything that's not sort of municipally owned or operated. As an example, 900 Worcester Street where the Boston Sports Institute is we bought that with taxable financing so that allows us to lease the land for more commercial or higher use activities, so we purchased 15.75 acres of this site to potentially create a long-term lease similar to 900 Worcester Street and it not be in municipal purpose that could have been for housing or some other activity This property has never been a one idea property. A wide range of possibilities were discussed when the town considered purchasing the property, At acquisition the town considered open space, schools, recreation fields, a rink, the pool.

We had not put the RFQ out so this site was still in the mix for what ultimately occurred at 900 Worcester Street We also included community center, gardens, indoor courts, a land bank solar farm The 2014 study went considerably deeper, in particular on housing. Focusing on affordable housing, workforce housing and looking at specific design for a cluster development Since this time, further plans including the unified plan and the 2023 open space and recreation plan specifically identified the North 40 providing opportunities to address playing field needs. The underlying need there really is for rectangular fields. And so what I'm putting up here isn't necessarily a menu that the town has decided to build, but it demonstrates that the original discussion contemplated a combination of preservation and community uses.

And keep in mind we were bidders in the process so had the property been sold not to the town, it would have been largely developed. There has been conversation on this land for decades I know many of you may think this is the first time I'm hearing about this and I trust me, I understand that. But there has been considerable conversation. So after the vision and and the town acquiring the land. We then began discussions in public meetings at various board levels on the remediation and the establishment of the AUL. In early 2018, the select board considered establishing a new committee with representatives from town boards, Wellesley College, The Neighborhood. And the intent really was to go back look at what we had said potential uses could be and to see, do we still want those? Would those change? And simultaneously it was right when the planning board was gearing up to do the new comprehensive plan.

So the select board and the planning board teamed up to do the unified plan which is, which was in 2018-2019. This was the Commonwealth's first complete both it was a dual comprehensive plan and town strategic plan and that approach was consistent with the earlier North 40 steering committee's recommendation for more comprehensive planning study. As a result, much of the contemplated North 40 was incorporated into the unified plan and you can look in the policies on the back of that that demarcate a lot of potential policy actions. So then 2020 rolled around and things changed with COVID. We were in a COVID emergency, and had to change our focus. During that time period, we did complete the AUL. We finalized the activity and use limitation and recorded what, recorded that with the state so that is permanent.

We also began working with the community preservation committee regarding valuation of their portion of the land, which has to be designated under the conservation restriction. and we began work finalizing the conservation restriction, which largely what you have on the plans is where we have ultimately come to agreement and are looking to finalize that. So that brings us here tonight. to look at, back then the intent of the committee was to look how we would do a charrette. We're a little late in doing this, but we're here tonight to complete that task. Ms. Freiman had indicated, so I'm not going to go into detail anything further at this point with regards to the fire station master plan other than that is running concurrent however

The North 40 Planning Process and Fire Station Master Plan are separate processes, but they're closely connected because decisions about the property may affect the options available for future either fire facilities, municipal facilities uses. So once you nail down uses your then further limiting what potentially could be there in the future. One of the things as part of the unified plan was really a focus on town-wide analysis, not just focusing parcel by parcel. When we looked at that, in particular for the North 40 it was looking at options for the future community needs. Those needs have continued to evolve and separate town planning processes have helped some of these. So at the time when we acquired the land or shortly thereafter, housing needs were very different.

We're still in a housing crisis, but at the time we had 840Bs before the town and those are development now that include 680 Worcester Street, 16 Stearns Road, Fieldstone Way what ultimately became the Bristol, Terrazza. Following that we did a 40 yard district which is known as The Nines and then we passed MBTA communities so we weren't back looking necessarily at at the North 40, although the Housing Development Corporation now the Wellesley Affordable Housing Trust continue to look at 156 Weston Road as an opportunity in the existing house or potential modest expansion of affordable housing there. At the time we also, so since that time from housing needs I just also want to put out that we've also heard interest in something new. This is one of things I'm going to talk about how in municipalities it continues to evolve.

We've also been hearing a lot of need from many residents in our community for community-based housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is a specific type of housing that we have heard from multiple families in town, as their younger children begin aging out of the school processes and need to live independently. Recreation needs essentially remain, the town's open space in rec planning continues to identify a need for additional rectangular fielding capacity I see some kids here tonight, too. Look forward to hear what they think it needs. We've also heard a lot about a pump truck So for BMX bikes, jumps ramps things like that kids are building them in our parkland now. I would much rather it be constructed an area that is permissive rather than an areas that we really don't want you to build in So that's a use. We look forward to hearing their ideas on that Community space needs have also been identified.

Art space, studio space, rehearsal space, classroom space, gathering space in general we've heard on multiple occasions and multiple studies Our municipal facility needs, other than the fire department have also evolved. Right before COVID we had a town hall annex proposed which was going to be How's our facilities department, our land use divisions and our HR Department? That was the first thing we pulled this COVID to secure our funding. So that never moved forward. We currently have our Facilities Management Department and Land Use Department in leases at 888 Worcester Street. That building's being sold, so all of them are going to be relocated and we'll have to find new lease space actually that'll be an article of town meeting this year to put them in. Obviously our public safety needs are also changing, including the fire department but also our Department of Public Works not looking at this site for that.

The unified plan as part of this process and evaluating all these uses did not select a use for the North 40, it just identified them as potential needs. So tonight's exercise It's not what does the North 40 need per se, but what does Wellesley need and what role should the north 40 play in meeting those needs? So one need that has evolved more recently, and I just wanted to give this as an example. I'm not saying this is something you need to put on your map or not put on a map but it's a good example. um in evaluating the tailby lot back in 2018 a black box theater was proposed and the idea took off with people. In 2021, a study of a different property 219 Washington Street

conducted by now planning board member Ed Chazen, but real estate professor at Boston College, Ed Chasen identified needs for modernized performing studio arts and gathering spaces. That study even explored a substantial multi-use facility with theater, rehearsal classroom studios and general purpose space. Following that, we were fortunate to have a Boston College real estate class do a study on Walnut Street. And as part of that, they too identified an art center as a new use in 2023. so three years later the town's currently developing an arts and culture strategy plan with MAPC our regional planning agency that's through a grant and that again has identified expanding access to space as a key thing. The other gathering space component, that came out of our DEI equity audit as well and we've tried to accomplish that in some of the library renovations so there's spaces you can rent now because it's at such high demand.

And so, the library renovation included some spaces so you can lease that. So Fire Station, Ms. Freiman gave a great overview of this but I did just want to spend a minute on this to basically say that it is one current municipal need that we're looking at the site for The master plan identified the North 40 as a potential site. Again, it has not been finalized. It is in evaluation stage The Charette would let participants consider a potential fire station. There's a cutout in there for that and for arts and community just to go back, we've copied the Toll Parsons footprint as a potential. So if you wanted to look to see how that would fit in to the space, we tried to scale that out a little bit for you. So tonight, as Ms. Freiman indicated this does not decide if the North 40 would be the fire station location, or if it wouldn't.

It does not eliminate the North-40 from consideration as a potential fire station. The fire station will continue through its separate review and decision making process Okay, I know that was a quick overview. So we're gonna get into the exercise and so I know, and I want to acknowledge that people came into this room with very different levels of knowledge on the North 40. Some of you have followed the property every day for more than a decade, read the reports, attended meetings know the history. Others were dragged here by their neighbor and friend, and we appreciate all of you and all of your opinions. And so we gave you an intentionally high level overview just for level setting. We're not trying to recreate 10 plus years of meetings and studies in 20 minutes, and I could certainly having been literally at every one of those meetings

give you an analysis of that, but I don't think going to be helpful. But all that information is online, the town's webpage at the North 40 page, The Fire Station Master Plan for those people who really wanna get into the weeds we have the information for you and we've even pulled the presentation from 2015 for you to watch, which goes into detail why we acquired the North 40. So we're asking everyone to start from the same map in the same set of constraints and then look forward rather than trying to create or recreate every debate that's already occurred. The question now shifts from how did we get here to given where we are, what should the North 40 make possible for Wellesley's future? Okay. So if everyone can take a look at your maps because you're going to have this information on your documents too.

So every table has a meeting packet and on your map there are things that are fixed. So, there's some things you can't move the AUL is associated with the former landfill. That's a no-build area, and when I say no build you can't run a trail through it, you can run anything through it. You can't plant additional trees there, you cant do anything. The purchase and sale agreement also carries open space and other commitments to the Southern Six. So, the Southern six is identified on your map which is just south of the Cotituate Aqueduct that largely has to be retained as existing conditions to meet the astronomy labs needs at Wellesley College. outside those fixed oh and we also have the conservation restriction.

The other restriction from the purchase and sale agreement is that no vehicular access or roads can occur between the property and Route 135 on Central Street. So what's open for discussion? any of the uses I previously described, any uses that you can come up with when you think about open space. Think about passive open space, think about Active Open Space. When you think about trail use, do you want it paved? Do you want natural? Is it for bikes? Is is just for pedestrians? When you thing about gardens, can it be smaller? Does it need to be bigger? There's a lot of questions and we wanna hear from you. Okay, so you have questions that will help guide you on this. And here's what you need to do. There is a direction sheet, the builder map sheet You can cut out the shapes. Those are all scaled, they are accurately detailed to your map.

You can choose ideas. You could use a half acre, one acre, two acres You can make it housing. You could make it open space, you could make anything. Move things around. There's some questions to help guide your discussion. Take a look at the questions if you're stuck at your table and don't know how to begin having these discussions with people. And the key really is, at the end, there is a notes page, and we're gonna collect anything you write on. And we have extra paper if you wanna include notes which has four basic questions on them. Key choices what we did why we did it, what trade-offs or conditions and other views. Was there any dissension in terms of what you were going to add to the map? I would, there's scissors.

You gotta have someone cut it out and ultimately we want you to glue it down and tell us what you did. The map is going to be the outcome and your report for tonight. Cut, place, move, discuss! Glue, and then you're gonna record. So it is currently 719 or 720? and we are right on time. So, we're gonna give you till 8 15 to build your map. We have staff members who will walk around and we have planning staff, we have fire staff, sustainability staff who will answer questions. So we look forward to seeing your maps.

Dixie, and so on.

Leibniz,

of the United States.

Dixie.

What are you going to say?

I'm a senior.

I have all the work.

Dixie, Testa. I don't know what you're talking about.

Walsh.

Dixie.