Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

Town seeks input on what to do with shuttered South Natick school

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Be heard about the future of the 5 Auburn Street parcel in South Natick at two upcoming meetings.

The 5 Auburn Street Request for Proposal (RFP) Committee—the nine-member group tasked with figuring out what to do with the former Eliot School building and its 2.8 acre parcel in South Natick—is seeking input from Natick residents regarding the future of the 3-floor, 10,600 square-foot structure that dates from 1938. The Committee wants feedback from the community in order to develop an RFP for the potential sale of the building/parcel.

5 Auburn St., former Eliot School, Natick

5 Auburn Street most recently served as a Montessori school, but that operation completed a major renovation in 2020 to its campus across the street, giving it the space it needed to keep to one side of Route 16 only. The private school, which still educates toddlers – grade 8 using the Montessori model, is now known as Riverbend.

Going further back, 5 Auburn Street was a public school building into the 1970s.

The historic structure needs lots of work. The boiler has failed, it has inefficient single-pane windows, and it isn’t ADA-compliant. Upgrading it could cost upward of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Public meetings:

DATE: April 27, 2022
TIME: 6:30pm
LOCATION: via Zoom. Meeting ID 873 0126 2933

DATE: April 30, 2022
TIME: 3pm
LOCATION: 5 Auburn Street

And/or express your thoughts on the matter via email at 5auburn@natickma.org

Natick asks: What to do with that found $630,000 from MathWorks?

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The Natick Planning Board last week wrapped up its meeting with an informal discussion about what to do with the little old sum of $630,000 discovered to have been sitting around since MathWorks expanded into its Apple Hill campus on Rte. 9 east more than 10 years ago.

MathWorks Apple Hill Campus

Natick Open Space Planner Marianne Iarossi said that over the past 6 months she, former head of Community & Economic Development James Freas and current Town Administrator Jamie Errickson discovered the money, which had been contributed by MathWorks as part of the Apple Hill site plan review largely to address traffic issues that might arise. Now the goal is to figure out how to reappropriate the money, possibly for open space and other projects, and get Planning and later Town Meeting’s blessing for those plans, Iarossi said.

Most of the items on the extensive traffic mitigation list crafted back when MathWorks was expanding have been checked off. “The reason why… there’s about $600,000 left from the mitigation money from 2008 is that [the Massachusetts Department of Transportation] ended  up carrying forward some of the projects, so the town ended up saving that money if you will. So there’s extra that’s been sitting there for a number of years,” Iarossi said.

The big one yet to be completed is the Walnut and Bacon Street intersection, which the Department of Public Works is already moving ahead on. That project will gobble up as much as half of the MathWorks mitigation money, especially when a you-know-what (consultant) gets brought in to address engineering complexities. That intersection project was thought to be about a $60K one back in the day, but in today’s climate many years later the cost has ballooned.

walnut st bacon st intersection

 

Even after that project, plenty of money would be in play for other projects, including open space ones such as a trailhead improvement for the Town Forest at Rte. 9 (maybe a $5K project() and possible boardwalk connections between north and south Pickerel Pond trails. Trail improvements could make it easier for MathWorks employees to access the Cochituate Rail Trail and Natick Center. The key is to ensure the projects have some relation to MathWorks, which is being kept in the loop on all this.

Improvements that could help MathWorks employees who cycle or walk through the Rte. 27 and Bacon Street intersection could also be a possibility, and the DPW has improvements planned for this summer. More upgrades could come as part of the big Rte. 9 and 27 intersection overhaul that’s in the works, too.

Iarossi was looking to take the Planning Board’s pulse on all this, and the feedback was positive.

Among those in support, as long as the projects truly tie in to MathWorks, was Planning Board member Andy Meyer.

“The fact that essentially we have leftover money, I think those are great proposals, totally justifiable,” he said. “Gosh I’d like to get started on all this as soon as we possibly can.”

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First Church Natick kicks off Capital Campaign

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First Church Natick, that iconic 225-year old congregational church in Natick Center, has launched its Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign with the goal of raising $750,000 toward a $1.5 million restoration and renewal project.

First Congregational Church, Natick

The congregation plans to refurbish the building’s 1876 steeple and refresh indoor spaces. Church leadership hopes the updates and enhancements will lead to increased use of the building’s large worship space and fellowship hall, especially for performance, educational, civic and social events in the community.

The balance of the project costs will be offset by a refinance of the church’s mortgage and a withdrawal from the church’s endowment fund.

Known as Natick’s front porch, you can’t miss the historic structure. Currently Adirondack chairs just outside the massive front doors beckon passers-by to take a break; Natick artist-in-residence Amy Adams’ side-lawn installation “Am I Here” encourages conversations about support and treatment of those with mental illness; and last month hundreds of purple and red flags fluttered in the breeze to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic.

While work to preserve the safety and integrity of the church steeple was begun early last spring in advance of fundraising, the bulk of the improvements will center on the second-floor sanctuary, the church’s large worship space. A design team, composed of 13 church members and architect Ann Vivian of GVV Architects, plans for updated lighting, enhanced audio/visual capabilities and improved internet connectivity for virtual programming. New flooring in the space will improve the sanctuary’s acoustics. A redesign of the chancel, or raised stage area, will create improved accessibility for program participants and leaders alike.

FCN Interim Pastor Jonathan New says new lighting, fresh flooring, upgraded sound and ramps for the chancel “will make the sanctuary much more useable and also strongly convey the kind of welcome and inclusion that we value as a congregation, specifically for persons who are mobility-impaired. This work will allow us to live into our full embrace of them as worshipers and worship leaders to make that aspect of church life as available to them as anyone. That’s what this congregation has aspired to do and to be with regards to different kinds of people whom the church has historically forgotten or sometimes consciously omitted.”

FCN’s Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign will include visits to about 100 church member households and direct outreach to key community stakeholders. It will conclude in November with a culminating celebration at the church. Work on the interior projects is likely to begin in summer of 2022. Community members who would like to contribute to the campaign or inquire
about the use of space at FCN may contact the church office at: admin@firstchurchnatick.org or (508) 653-0971.

Learn more about the project here.

The new West Natick Fire Station #4 is hot—and we got a tour

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Construction on the West Natick Fire Station #4 at 268 Speen St., is complete, and Chief Michael Lentini took some time out of his day to show us around the 17,000 square-foot station. Here are a few pictures of the brand-new, ADA-compliant building and all its bells and whistles including the five double-deep apparatus bays; training areas; enhanced safety measures; and more.

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick fire station

 

West Natick Fire Station #4

So that the others don’t feel left out

Natick has three additional fire stations: Station #1, the headquarters, is located in downtown Natick at 22 E. Central St.; Station #2 is at 2 Robert Sproule Ln. in South Natick; and Station #3 is at 2 Rhode Island Ave. in East Natick.

Natick seriously digs its roadway projects

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Evidence of some big infrastructure improvements are all over Natick, with the Route 27/Cottage Street area project in full swing as part of Natick’s Five Year Roadway Improvement Plan.

As part of the work, Eversource Electric is relocating utility poles from the middle of the Cottage Street. sidewalk. The utility poles have made sidewalk snow clearing and sweeping  a challenge and contributed to non-compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Cottage Street itself has been closed off during the major project.

You can find more information on the work here.

Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Dennis McCormick who sent along a couple of great pictures on the work-in-progress. “The heavy equipment shook foundations,” he reports.

Natick streets project
Natick streets project
Natick streets project

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Natick Complete Streets project