Selectmen Discuss Funding, Ownership of Town Center Green

The Board of Selectmen Monday night heard the latest update regarding the Public Green at Wayland Town Center and began the discussions of how to fund and manage its full build-out.

The to include two hills with a flat space, large enough to accommodate the town’s 100x100-foot ice rink, in the center. Walking trails and a natural playscape are also in the proposal.

The developer of Wayland Town Center, Twenty Wayland, currently owns the space and has agreed to provide $100,000 for some landscaping and a partial sidewalk, as well as to grade the land with excess fill from the larger development.

The full project as currently designed, however, would require additional funding to the tune of a little more than $600,000.

Colleen Sheehan, chair of the Town Center Green Design Advisory Committee, told selectmen that a key next step involves the town securing an ownership or management plan for the space.

She explained that securing Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds requires the town to have an ownership stake and grant dollars are more readily available in an ownership situation as well. Furthermore, Sheehan said she anticipates that Town Meeting would want to see Wayland have some ownership of the land before it approved funds to implement the plans, should a capital investment in the property be pursued.

“It is private land, so we’ve taken the ‘town’ out of it,” Sheehan said. “It is ‘The Green.’ Many of us think it might be best to negotiate a 99-year lease. The Recreation Committee would like to manage the space, and they are working on a proposed outline. We’ve got some very nuanced negotiation that need to take place with the development team.”

Sheehan said questions of maintenance, programming, insurance and more had to be worked out as part of the over-arching ownership questions.

Already, Town Planner Sarkis Sarkisian has applied for a $216,000 MassWorks grant, which he said would cover the cost of additional landscaping and the all-natural-materials playscape envisioned for the land. He said he expects to hear about the grant by the end of October.

Originally, the developer was seeking a finalized plan by the beginning of September in order to proceed with the grading, but Sarkisian said the developer has slowed that timeline. Now, the developer is simply held to its commitment to landscape the space by November 2013.

Sheehan said her committee had cut back on some of the hardscape ideas originally proposed for the space, opting instead for more green features.

“We just think this is a more natural, more cohesive design,” Sheehan said, referring to the updated plan presented to selectmen Monday night. “The idea is to give Wayland a destination that is unique, so people want to come here. We think that ties in well with the vibrancy of the Town Center.”

She said that the entire proposed walking path is about one-quarter of a mile long; the center flat area could accommodate about 400 people; and the committee was able to visually connect the space with the nearby Cow Common and bike path.

“The numbers all started to make sense in terms of passive recreation, active recreation, etc,” Sheehan said. “It’s a really nice community connection.”

Going forward Sheehan and Sarkisian are going to work with Town Administrator Fred Turkington and Selectman Steve Correia to negotiate a plan for the space with Twenty Wayland. Selectmen will hear and update on the process at a future meeting.

Editor's Note: We've clarified that the developer currently owns the green and that the project is estimated to cost slightly more than $700,000 total, with the developer agreeing to fund $100,000 of that cost.