Wayland residents pack forum to oppose 172-unit Mill Creek housing plan

WAYLAND — March 20, 2023 — Wayland residents pack forum to oppose 172-unit Mill Creek housing plan at former Whole Foods site. Mill Creek Residential is asking the Select Board to join as a co-applicant on a Chapter 40B LIP for 297 Boston Post Road, with 43 of 172 units deed-restricted at 80 percent of area median income. Town staff representative Mike Gillette told the joint Select Board–Planning Board forum the proposal's 41 units per acre would be the densest in town — compared to 27 at River's Edge — and that wastewater demand would jump from a 6,000-gallon-per-day allocation to an estimated 34,000 gallons against a plant processing roughly 20,000 to 23,000 gallons daily. Mill Creek representative Debbie Horwitz emphasized the project remains conceptual: "We have not filed an application for anything except for asking the Select Board if they're willing to do this with us as a LIP." Board member Adam called fire and EMS access concerns "a non-starter." More than a dozen residents cited repeated flooding on Pelham Island Road, where the National Guard has previously evacuated residents by duck boat.