Planning Board finalizes MBTA zoning, raises town center height to 40 feet

WAYLAND -- March 19, 2024, Wayland Planning Board finalizes MBTA zoning with a 40-foot height carve-out for town center. The board voted 5-0 Tuesday to send the multifamily housing overlay bylaw to town meeting after Select Board Chair Bill Whitney asked for relief from the draft 35-foot height limit, arguing property owner Zurich and developer National Development need three stories to make town center housing "financially feasible." Chair Anette S. Lewis brokered a compromise allowing the limit "to be increased to 40 feet to accommodate purely architectural roofline features such as gables and parapets." Member Jen Steel objected that "the character of Wayland is changing to significantly larger, significantly more luxurious buildings," but joined the unanimous vote. The bylaw zones 757 units across four subdistricts, including 151 modeled for the town center, after Lewis dropped a Route 30 parcel to satisfy state 30-acre consolidation rules. A separate report on a retail self-storage citizens' petition passed 4-0-1.