Natick Report

The project team for 200 Pond Road, a proposed assisted living (96 units) and memory care (34 units) facility to be built at the top of the scenic road on the Wellesley/Natick line, this past week shared its latest plans with the Natick Board of Health.

As with its pitch to the Wellesley Board of Health at the start of October, the team met with a generally receptive audience naturally more focused on the health-related aspects of the project than with traffic, the environment, the proximity of another new senior living facility, and other topics that have been discussed at length during meetings with other town bodies in both Natick and Wellesley as well as with neighbors. The project has made agendas recently for Natick’s Conservation Commission and Open Space Advisory Committee, too.

If you think it would be a good idea for Board of Health meeting recordings to be made available on Pegasus, let them know: info@natickpegasus.org

The proposal involves plans to build a 130-unit senior living facility which would have its driveway and address in Wellesley, but the bulk of the project in Natick on the site of an existing mansion The 200 Pond Road team earlier this month held a public information meeting at Natick High School of which a recording may be forthcoming (we were unable to attend).

Proponents of the project earlier this year pulled back on a Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting citizen petition for a zoning change that could pave the way for the facility in the face of negative public feedback and a Natick Planning Board decision not to vote for favorable action on the article. Now the team hopes its revised plan might make its way onto the 2024 Natick Spring Annual Town Meeting warrant.

The 200 Pond Road team’s case is founded largely on what it says is a mismatch between huge demand for assisted living and memory care units and limited supply, and the location of the facility in a bucolic setting that would be appealing to its residents. The team’s argument in part is that a graying population in the Natick/Wellesley area will want to stay in this area to be near family (though of course both communities’ real estate is increasingly out of reach for many family members).

The Board of Health’s questions included topics such as affordability, as there had been concerns early on during the project team’s rounds that this would be a gold-plated facility. The team has since replaced its original operator in an effort to bring down operational and architecturall costs so that the units will be in the middle of the market rate in the area, said 200 Pond Road’s Peter Dagostino.

The Board also asked about zoning, as the project will require relief from both towns, and about neighborhood reaction. Dagostino highlighted that the project would have just one direct abutter (another developer who built two big houses close to the street on Pond Road). Though other neighbors further down Pond Road and nearby have spoken up during meetings about their concerns.

Board member Peter Delli Colli acknowledged that the direct abutter might have issues with the project, but that “having this kind of project to help so many people, I’m sure that everybody is hoping that everything can go through…”

Everybody? Probably not. Enough? Maybe. We’ll learn more as the 200 Pond Road team makes its way back through the gauntlet of Natick and Wellesley’s boards and committees in the weeks or months to come.

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