Wayland Planning Board opens Dover Amendment hearings on church, school expansions

WAYLAND — October 15, 2025 — Wayland opens Dover Amendment hearings on Coptic church and Carroll School expansions. The Planning Board on Wednesday continued both hearings pending peer review. The St. Philippator Mercurius and St. Minas Coptic Orthodox Church proposes a three-building, roughly 119,500-square-foot complex at 169 Rice Road with 24 senior housing units and 190 parking spaces for a 570-person occupant load. Chair Anette Lewis directed counsel Jonathan Silverstein to submit a memo explaining how the senior housing qualifies under the Dover Amendment, and Vice Chair Robin Borgestedt challenged a traffic study conducted in summer and lighting that would keep church towers lit until midnight. The Carroll School's expansion at 37-45 Waltham Road would grow enrollment roughly five-fold and expand parking from 45 to 118 spaces against a 96-space requirement. Attorney Dennis Murphy, for Turkey Hill Village, called Rice Road "a dangerous road." The church hearing resumes Nov. 12; Carroll resumes Oct. 29.