Natick Report

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

Beyond Natick—Worcester Art Museum is a nearby gem

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On a search for a weekend activity that combined culture with COVID-consciousness, we recently stopped by the Worcester Art Museum (WAM), where we practically had the place to ourselves. Masks and social distancing are the rule, and the art-viewing public embraces those requirements. In addition, there are plenty of hand sanitizing stations throughout this fantastic central Massachusetts museum.

If you go, don’t miss the the Hunt Floor Mosaic, a huge piece located in the Renaissance Court. Patterned something like an oriental carpet, the multi-ton work was created in the early 500s and originates from the ancient Roman city of Antioch. With its hunters armed with bows and arrows, and big game animals depicted throughout, the the pursuit of prey is celebrated. The 246 ft. x 281 ft. marble and limestone mosaic underwent an extensive 18-month conservation effort, completed last summer. The much-loved treasure hasn’t looked this good since before it was all but destroyed in a major earthquake in the sixth century.

Beyond Natick, Worcester Art Museum
Worcester Art Museum, Hunt Floor Mosaic.

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$25K grant to cover thermal imaging cameras for Natick firefighters

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Natick firefighters has upgraded its thermal imaging cameras thanks to a $25,000 grant through the state’s Department of Fire Services.

Such equipment enables firefighters to see areas of heat that they couldn’t perceive with the naked eye, and detect people and animals in smoky or burning environments.

“We have had them for many years. They are getting beyond their life expectancy and simply need replacing,” Chief Michael Lentini says. “The technology does get better every model year. So we have that advantage with this grant  opportunity.”

More than 300 fire departments across the state received a total of $5 million in grants, with a maximum amount per community based on population.

natick fire station

More: The new West Natick Fire Station #4 is hot—and we got a tour (July, 2021)

Natick closer to rolling out heavy anti-PFAS artillery

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Those traveling along Rte. 9 and on the Cochituate Rail Trail for now have an impressive new industrial sight to behold: Hulking white filters designed to put their granulated activated carbon up against the nastiest forever chemicals in Natick’s public water supply.

Natick discovered elevated levels of Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the town’s drinking water during the process of getting a new well online in 2020. Since then the town has been taking actions, including a water ban and tapping wells usually off limits at certain times, to mitigate the problem.

The filters, located at the Springvale Water Treatment Plant, should be in action by late February according to a town update on PFAS.

PFAS filters on Rte 9 DPW

Supply chain issues delayed a hoped-for November or December launch. The filters, from an outfit called TIGG, will soon be masked within a metal building, then some piping and electrical work will need to be done to get them online.

The filters, funded through a $3M capital appropriation at Spring Town Meeting and emergency funding through the state, are designed to extract PFAS from 2 million gallons of water a day and allow the plant to pump out 4 million gallons of water by mixing in other clean water.

Natick has also begun researching the cause of PFAS in the water, and neighboring Wellesley is reviewing a proposal to do likewise, with plans to share findings.

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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
The free-for-all known as the Walnut and Bacon Streets 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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