Wayland Select Board weighs $1.5 million purchase of 14 West Plain Street

WAYLAND — September 15, 2025 — Wayland Select Board weighs $1.5 million purchase of 14 West Plain Street as override looms. Chair Carol B. Martin said the board will decide by month's end on the 5,000-square-foot commercial property, which Library Director Chris Lindquist proposed turning into a satellite branch and "third place" for tweens and teens within walking distance of the middle school. Resident Annette Lewis countered that the town should not be "in real estate development" and warned against pulling a commercial parcel off the tax rolls. Town Manager Michael McCall told the board "we're on a collision course with an override" and presented a working-group plan to close a projected $1.8 million fiscal 2027 gap by issuing bond anticipation notes (saving roughly $800,000 at a cost of $160,000 in interest) and reclassifying $750,000 in levy debt on 66 River Road as excluded debt via special election. The board also appointed four students to town committees and accepted an $884,000 state grant toward the Snake Brook Dam project.