EDC and Planning Board split on Route 20 West height and setback rules

WAYLAND -- April 8, 2026, Wayland EDC and Planning Board fail to agree on Route 20 West height amendment. A joint meeting Tuesday on proposed Article OO, which would raise the Route 20 West MBTA overlay to 58 feet and 32 units per acre, up from 35 feet and 20 units per acre, ended without consensus. EDC Chair Rebecca Stanizzi and new member S. Alihan Polat, an urban planner, presented massing studies showing the change could yield a "five-over-one" building 30 feet from Route 20. The EDC pushed for a bylaw asterisk requiring an 80-foot setback for any added height; Town Planner Robert Hummel and Planning Board members urged putting any step-back rules in Chapter 306 regulations instead, warning that altering the table could trigger a new state compliance review and jeopardize the $49,000 modeling that earned Section 3A approval. "I stand by what we have in the bylaw," Hummel said before leaving.