​A positive option for Wayland:
The Mahoney family has been trying to sell this property and something will be built on it. We all know that "No! Not near my home!" is not sufficient. The key problem: it would be very difficult for any for-profit developer to build a small project on this site that would fit Pine Brook and the Wayland community. They need to "build BIG!" to make a significant profit.
The ProtectWayland.org team talked to the Wayland Housing Partnership, and then with four not-for-profit organzations: Housing for Humanity, B'nai Brith,
Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly and Metro West Collaborative Development (MWCD). The Mahoney site was too small / difficult for most, but MWCD agreed to discuss the options. ProtectWayland.org made a small donation to support MWCD and met with one of their architects. Here is an outline of our
positive option.
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~24 apartments: This is the minimum needed for a successful development
project, according to MWCD. 24 units would be significantly smaller than the
60 proposed by Zieff, would fit with Pine Brook and comply with Wayland
zoning regulations.
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100% affordable: All 24 units would be affordable. We could also prioritize units for Wayland teachers, public safety and other Town employees, and Wayland families in need. Standard 40B projects include only 20% affordable units; 80% are added to Wayland's total 'market' housing stock -- raising the bar for 40B compliance. Our plan would help Wayland meet the 40B threshold to stop aggressive 40B projects.
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Playground for small children: This part of Wayland needs a playground.
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Trail connection: A path would connect the Aqueduct Trail on the south side of Route 20 to the Rail Trail on the north side -- with a pedestrian light in between. This light would also help people who attend events at the ICB and Temple Shir Tikva, when they need to park on the opposite side of Route 20.
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Please let us know if you have any suggestions. It is clear that there are much better solutions for the Mahoney property.