Developers have proposed a massive commercial/residential development on the former Raytheon property. The developers are proposing 538,000 sq. ft. of development: 28 new buildings; a 55,000 sq. ft. supermarket; 100 to 200 units of housing; 40,000 sq. ft. of offices; 40,000 sq. ft. of town buildings, and building heights that will significantly exceed current zoning heights.

By comparison, the Omni strip in Weston—grocery store, bank, restaurant, bagel shop, second-floor offices—is 30,000 sq. ft.; Sudbury Farms Plaza, including all stores, is 55,000 sq. ft. (market alone is 40,000 sq. ft.); and adjacent Sudbury Crossing with TJ Maxx and Brooks is 90,048 sq. ft.

This is not a Town Center designed to support Wayland’s residents (a concept Wayland CARD endorses), but a major retail shopping center that will draw thousands of cars from all over the western suburbs. This is NOT what was envisioned in Wayland’s recently completed Master Plan. The Board of Selectmen and developers are on a fast track.

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Town Boards Express Concerns about Proposed Redevelopment of Former Raytheon Site

Last week, various Town boards provided feedback to the Board of Selectmen to assist the BOS in negotiating a draft agreement with the developer and to craft zoning bylaws that would then be presented at a Special Town Meeting in November. Those documents are available at Town Building and on the Town’s Web site (www.wayland.ma.us/). A number of the boards (Planning, Finance Committee, Road, Health, Police, Fire) cited a lack of adequate information from the developer—including financial/tax analyses— as well major concerns about traffic, safety (police, fire, toxic cleanup), waste water management, and environmental issues.

Here’s a Summary of Just Some of the Boards’ Comments to BOS:

PLANNING BOARD: By law, the Planning Board is responsible for proposing zoning law changes to Town Meeting and is therefore crucial to the process. The Planning Board cited the developer’s failure to provide sufficient information to adequately assess the project and its potential impacts. The Planning Board’s requests for additional information from the developer included:

• “Request sufficient capability statement from Developer including its resources financial and otherwise, list of its other development projects, examples of projects in New England...identical or similar to what it wants to do in Wayland"


• “Request project write-up from Developer sufficient to describe a detailed overview of what it would like to do at the site in order to give Boards a context for providing input"


• "Request a statement of how and when the environmental deed restriction will be lifted on all or portion of the property..."


• “Request that Developer provide a market and fiscal impact analysis of the project including detailed backup for current vs. future assessed value of the property...."

FINANCE COMMITTEE: “The financial review of the town center project which projects net increased tax revenues over cost of approximately $830,000 was done on conceptual information. We are concerned that these approximations will not be accurate.” The FinCOM noted the financial consultant the town had hired to analyze the development proposal was hampered by the lack of a “market study, information on project phasing, and more precise data on retail mix and number and type of residential units.” That consultant also expressed concern about the “increased costs of providing public safety services.”

ROAD COMMISSIONERS: “There will be a substantial increase in traffic during evening, weekend, and off-peak daytime hours.” The Board also noted there will be, “Likely spill-over traffic onto peripheral local side roads.”

FIRE DEPARTMENT: “I am very concerned about what additional traffic volume the proposed project would generate and what effects this additional volume will have on the already busy traffic pattern in the immediate area,” reported Chief Robert F. Loomer. “With the Public Safety Building located nearby, this additional traffic could have an adverse effect on our ability to respond from our facility to emergencies throughout the community.” He also noted, “A project of this scope will certainly place an additional demand for fire, rescue and emergency services upon the community.”

POLICE DEPARTMENT: “A development of this size will undoubtedly have a serious impact on traffic flow, not only on the main routes that abut the project site, but also on secondary residential streets that may turn into alternative routes for motorists attempting to avoid town center,” noted Police Chief Robert Irving. He also stated the proposed project “would impact the ability of the police department to continue to provides services on a townwide basis at its current level,” and requested an independent study to assess the project’s impact on the Town’s ability to deliver emergency services.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT: “Proper sewage treatment and ultimate disposal of treated sewage is a major concern. An important fact concerning the Sewage Treatment Plant, formerly owned by Raytheon and now owned by the Town if Wayland, is that when Raytheon moved from the building, the owner allowed the National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems Permit known as the NPDES Permit to lapse.” The Health Dept. also noted, “Much of the area is covered by an Activity and Use Limitation (AUL), which restricts certain uses in that area. The area of the AUL needs to be defined on the plans so this can be evaluated.”