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Town of Wayland
Press Release
Town officials have reached a settlement with 13 residents of Glezen Lane who appealed the Planning Board's issuance of a Master Special Permit for the Town Center development.
Town officials have reached a settlement with 13 residents of Glezen Lane who appealed the Planning Board's issuance of a Master Special Permit for the Town Center development. The Board of Selectmen and Board of Road Commissioners worked collaboratively to develop and approve a traffic mitigation plan that includes directional signage, traffic enforcement, speed tables and limited turn restrictions to discourage patrons of the retail shops at Town Center from using the residential neighborhood.
Town officials had already embarked on a public process to gather comments from residents in various neighborhoods that could be impacted by traffic accessing the Town Center development prior to the filing of the appeal. “We had previously acknowledged our responsibility and stated our continuing commitment to mitigate the impacts on Glezen Lane and other neighborhood streets when the litigation was filed," said Michael Tichnor, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “This settlement is part of a comprehensive effort to directly address the potential impacts of increased traffic volumes with citizens,” Tichnor said.
Over the past several months, town officials have continued the dialogue with residents of Bow Road, Library Lane, and the historic district neighborhood and worked to diminish the impact of proposed road alterations in the historic Town Center. Officials were recently notified that Mass Highway had approved a 25 MPH speed limit for the length of Bow Road. A similar measure for Glezen Lane is pending, as are requests for a ban on through truck traffic on both streets.
The traffic plan provides for a series of mitigation measures to be implemented if the neighborhood experiences specific increases in traffic volume above current levels. Mitigation measures include installation of year-round speed tables, new signage, and limited turn restrictions. "While we disagreed over the expected traffic impact of Town Center, we developed a plan that requires mitigation only in response and in proportion to any increases in traffic on Glezen Lane," said Tichnor. Funds to pay the estimated cost of the mitigation measures will be set aside from the gift funds paid by Twenty Wayland, LLC under terms of the development agreement.
"With site plan applications now
pending before the Planning Board, we are pleased that final
permitting of the development can proceed," Tichnor said.