Committee Presents Idea of Multi-Family Rental for Route 20 Parcel

Wayland’s Economic Development Committee last week presented an idea to the Board of Selectmen regarding a potential use for town-owned land along Route 20 and the Sudbury River.

The committee’s recommendation: A multi-family rental property geared toward the elderly population that would meet the criteria for affordable housing and help Wayland meet a 10 percent affordable housing quota.

The 7.6 acres in question sits on Route 20, with the Sudbury River, the decommissioned (ie. no longer used) Wayland/Sudbury septage facility and the access road to the nearby.

The Wayland Board of Selectmen months ago asked the EDC to “come up with what one could do with a site like this,” EDC member Sam Potter explained. The first options considered were non-revenue generating projects such as an ice rink, ball fields or a new Department of Public Works garage.

The committee then considered commercial possibilities for the site such as office space, but, Potter said, the land’s “tweener” location – meaning its distance from interstates 495 and 95 – meant little market for office space. As for a warehouse facility, Potter said, the committee decided that likely wasn’t the image Wayland wanted to convey.

A hybrid facility featuring some office space in the front with a warehouse hidden in the back seemed the most feasible, “until we saw what multi-family could bring to the town,” Potter said.

Becky Matson Stanizzi, chair of the Economic Development Committee, said the concerns regarding the proximity to the nearby transfer station and septage facility proved, from a visual standpoint, to be a non-issue as the landfills have been capped.

“If you didn’t know better, you’d think pasture and woods, pasture and woods,” Stanizzi said of looking out from a high point on the town-owned acreage.

Stanizzi said the committee began to think about what it would take to have this facility bring Wayland’s affordable housing to 10 percent. According to a Boston.com article, “The percent is important because state law makes it easier for developers to build developments with affordable units in communities with less than 10 percent, and more difficult for towns to block. Once a town passes the 10 percent threshold, a community gains more control over developments with affordable units.”

Stanizzi told selectmen that if 25 percent of a facility is used as affordable housing, the entire facility can be considered affordable housing. With that in mind, a 216-unit multi-family rental facility would allow Wayland to reach its 10 percent threshhold.

With the Wayland Town Center development underway, Stanizzi said the committee didn’t want to follow current typical urban planning models that call for housing to be built around a small coffee shop or commercial area. Instead, Stanizzi said, the committee kept hearing about a need for elderly housing in town and wanted to pursue that route while plugging the new facility into the Town Center through bike paths, safe sidewalks and more.

Stanizzi said the committee wants to “fill the niche” of housing needs for elderly individuals who don’t qualify for affordable housing, but can’t afford to purchase a condo either.

“There is just this need in Wayland for someone who cannot or does not want to tie up their assets in a condo,” Stanizzi said. “For a rental product – there was a real need here.”

Because Wayland owns the land, the town could pre-permit the property before pitching it to developers. That gives the town more control and also increases the potential sale price because a developer doesn’t have to go through the permitting process.

Market value for the land is about $5 million to $6 million and it could potentially bring in $750,000 in commercial tax revenues.

“It fits the market need, the affordable housing need and the tax need,” Stanizzi said.

The idea is only in its preliminary stages, and the Economic Development Committee wanted general response from the Board of Selectmen and Board of Public Works for the idea before putting additional work into the proposition. And the EDC received a generally positive response from both selectmen and BoPW members.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on this,” Potter said. “It’s going to require a lot more time to push this forward. We have a good concept … I think one that is worth pursuing, but we want to know that everything is going to be smoothed out going forward.”