Planning Board pushes back hard on Council on Aging parking design

WAYLAND — February 7, 2023 — Wayland Planning Board signals it will not accept the Council on Aging site plan as drawn. At a Feb. 7 hearing on an amendment to the 2008 Town Center master special permit, members Jennifer Steele and Dan Hill led sharp criticism of the roughly 100-space parking lot, paved fire turnaround and 1.2 acres of asphalt proposed around a repurposed 12,000-square-foot building at 8 Andrew Ave. Hill called the layout "incredibly environmentally unfriendly"; Steele said it would leave "a building in a sea of asphalt." Public buildings director Ben Keefe and working-group volunteer Bill Sterling defended the count, citing net-zero solar-canopy requirements and Sterling's experience designing 18 senior centers. Chair Annette Lewis questioned whether the town has rights for a new Andrew Avenue curb cut across Zurich-owned land, and four members favored restoring the original "formal green" by shifting parking west, a change that would cost four or five spaces. The hearing was continued to Feb. 28, with a Feb. 11 site walk.