Wakefield Town Council Notes -- March 10, 2025

We had a full agenda for our Town Council meeting on Monday, March 10. Here’s a summary of what we covered:

• The Town Council designated March 10-15 as The Scholarship Foundation of Wakefield Annual Appeal week. The Scholarship Foundation is celebrating its 65th year, and it anticipates awarding $800,000 to Wakefield students in the year ahead. To support their incredible work, please visit www.tsfofwakefield.org.

• The Council approved a routine pledge of license for Caporale's Fine Wine and Spirits on Broadway, as well as a common victualer license for Wakefield Convenience Store on Elm Street.

• The Council reviewed a proposal from the Friends of Lake Quannapowitt to install four monofilament fishing line recycling receptacles at frequent fishing spots around the Lake. Pursuant to Wakefield's Bench and Lake Structures Policy, we will accept public comment on this proposal for the next 30 days before making a final decision at our April 14 meeting.

• The Town Council voted to move forward with a Chapter 40B Local Initiative Program (LIP)proposal to build a 24-unit affordable housing development at 484-504 Salem Street, behind the existing Dunkin Donuts. Known as the "friendly 40B" program, the LIP allows developers to work with towns to jointly design projects that help address affordable housing goals in a way that minimizes potential impacts to surrounding neighborhoods. Having approval from the Town Council allows the developer to seek approval from MassHousing. If MassHousing allows the project to move forward, the developer would then need to seek approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission.

• We received an update on the status of Wakefield's Housing Production Plan. Thus far, the project team has collected a rich trove of data on housing needs and housing affordability in Wakefield, which they are using to develop a set of policy recommendations for the Plan. Interested residents are invited to share their feedback on these recommendations at one of two public forums scheduled for April 9 and April 16.

• The Town Council discussed the potential composition of a search committee to support the recruitment of a new Town Administrator. The committee's primary purpose is to screen all applicants to identify 3-4 candidates for the Town Council's consideration. While the Council will formalize the composition of the committee at our next meeting, we agreed that the search committee should (1) not include any Town Council members to maximize feedback from outside the Council, (2) consist of 7-9 members, and (3) include a mix of Town employees and residents.

• With the current state flexibilities allowing for remote participation in public meetings expiring at the end of March, the Council instructed the Town Administrator to contact Wakefield's legislative delegation to request that the state extend these flexibilities permanently.

• The Council reviewed Fiscal Year 2026 budgets for the Fire Department, Accounting Department, and Cable Television. Taken together, these budgets total $8.3 million, or 8% of Wakefield's total annual budget. The proposed budgets increase by 4.4% in the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2025, driven primarily by Fire Department staffing and overtime costs resulting from an unusually high number of firefighters currently on medical leave.

• We referred three warrant articles to be discussed at Town Meeting in May to the Planning Board for public hearings. The warrant articles include acceptance of an easement to allow for roadway improvements in front of the high school, approval of a new Floodplain Overlay District resulting from updated mapping of flood hazards by the federal government, and a citizen petition to allow for marijuana dispensaries in the area of Audubon Road.

• The Town Council approved a vacation replacement for the Building Inspector, and appointed Kathleen Shine Cain to a vacant position on the Human Rights Commission.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 24, at 7:00 PM on Wakefield Community Access TV and Zoom. Here's hoping this week's spring-like weather will continue until then!