Planning Board hears EDC pitch for Route 20 polling and pickup-window zoning

WAYLAND -- August 13, 2024, Wayland Planning Board hears EDC plan to poll residents on easing Route 20 zoning. Economic Development Committee Chair Rebecca Stenezi and member Karen Kelly told the board Aug. 13 they will launch two short surveys by month's end to gauge appetite for zoning changes that could fill vacant Route 20 buildings, including the former Bank of America, Santander and TD Bank sites. Kelly outlined a "pickup window" concept, app-based ordering with no idling drive-through, that could move as a standalone article at spring 2025 Town Meeting. Member Anette S. Lewis warned that limited sewer capacity and roadside trash, the original rationale for the drive-through ban, constrain the options. Vice Chair Robin Borgestedt asked how zoning could screen out conventional fast food: "How do you write zoning that says … thou shalt not have a large M at the front of your name?" The board also advanced a long-delayed shared streets grant to seasonally close Alyssa Avenue in spring 2025.