Planning Board Approves Design for Hannah Williams

The Wayland Planning Board has given its approval on a complete layout and renovation plan for Hannah Williams Park and Playground.

After resolving at – it will remain in virtually the same location along Main Street – the board turned its attention to the park’s overall layout and, in particular, the park’s many trees.

Town Planner Sarkis Sarkisian and Planning Board members Colleen Sheehan and Ira Montague joined Department of Public Works Director Don Ouellette for a site visit on June 3. During that visit, the group reached consensus regarding which trees to keep and which to remove.

Several trees Ouellette originally planned to remove will now remain. In particular, a group of trees located near Main Street at the border of TD Bank and the park will remain with the exception of the back two trees, which will be replaced with a “specimen” tree.

“It’s a nice buffer,” Sarkisian told the board, explaining that while the trees are not ideal species, they do separate the park from the nearby commercial district. “To replicate something like that is not going to happen right away.”

Additional trees will be added in the park, including several at the edge of the parking lot along Main Street. Ouellette, Sarkisian said, would like to include five street trees there and is considering October glory maples, tulip trees or London plane maples as the species.

The approved plan includes a meandering path as well as a street sidewalk, which will allow walkers to journey through the park or remain along Main Streetto to reach Commonwealth Road. The path will likely not be completed in the first phase of the renovation, but is part of the plan for future implementation.

The approved plan also includes three “bubbles” in which to place the playground equipment, which, along with fencing, is the primary focus of the first phase of renovation. The new equipment is soon to be ordered, and the Planning Board’s decision requires that the Recreation Department be involved in approving the final decision.

No date has yet been set for reopening the playground with the new equipment.