A Case Study of What Happens When Community Leaders Turn Their Backs on Promoting Equitable Development
Anthony D'Isidoro
At a fiery Wellesley Select Board meeting this week, a year-long process to reform Wellesley’s RIO bylaw might have just fallen apart.
The history of Wellesley’s RIO bylaw is complex and lengthy, but in short, it is a mechanism for developers to request rezoning to permit higher-density residential projects.
After two thoughtful condo projects failed to pass town meeting under the RIO process two years ago, and an attempt to virtually repeal the bylaw narrowly failed last year, a 15-member task force was formed to chart a path forward.
This week, that path hit a wall. At a Tuesday meeting, the Select Planning Boards traded accusations and pointed fingers over the task force’s proposed reforms, leaving little clarity about whether any proposal will make it to Town Meeting this spring.
But the specifics of a proposal that may be rejected are not the issue. The real problem, beyond the inherent challenges of a 15-person working group reaching consensus, is that this entire exercise has felt like a race to determine how a town that already builds very little can build even less.
While the town is squabbling over the right approach to building fewer homes, its population is aging at a blistering rate.
Public school enrollment is plummeting. The town has lost 3,100 young professionals over the past decade and Wellesley’s own Strategic Housing Plan projects a 9% decline in residents under 20 by 2050.