EDC and Planning Board split on Route 20 West height and setback rules

WAYLAND — April 8, 2026 — Wayland EDC and Planning Board fail to agree on Route 20 West height amendment. A joint meeting Tuesday on proposed Article OO — which would raise the Route 20 West MBTA overlay to 58 feet and 32 units per acre, up from 35 feet and 20 units per acre — ended without consensus. EDC Chair Rebecca Stanizzi and new member S. Alihan Polat, an urban planner, presented massing studies showing the change could yield a "five-over-one" building 30 feet from Route 20. The EDC pushed for a bylaw asterisk requiring an 80-foot setback for any added height; Town Planner Robert Hummel and Planning Board members urged putting any step-back rules in Chapter 306 regulations instead, warning that altering the table could trigger a new state compliance review and jeopardize the $49,000 modeling that earned Section 3A approval. "I stand by what we have in the bylaw," Hummel said before leaving.