Historic District Commission finalizes parking memo to Select Board

WAYLAND -- April 7, 2026, Wayland's Historic District Commission unanimously approved a memo urging the Select Board to fix town-center parking. Chair Greg Dale and Vice Chair Margery F. Baston backed the letter, drafted by Gretchen Schuler, which recommends expanding and regrading the depot and library lots, revisiting library-patron-only signage in the upper municipal lot, and hiring a planner or urban designer. Commissioners added a long-term bullet linking outlying lots, behind the town building and near Stop & Shop, to the district via safer Route 20 crossings, citing the incoming Mass Central Rail Trail, the Terrain development at the former Whole Foods, the Pond's Market cafe conversion, and the 216-unit Oxbow complex. Commissioner Desmond, joining remotely, said the town center pedestrian experience "is not great" and called for "urban design planning." Schuler will ask Town Manager Mike McCall for a slot on the April 13 Select Board agenda; otherwise members will speak at public comment.