Tea leaves a bad taste

So what did we learn from Saturday’s State of the Town meeting?

Town meetings are run by well intentioned people, who are unable to start on time, have a tendency to talk at you and keep doing it for too long and have difficulty framing a yes/no answer question. Meetings are attended by polite, concerned people who seek in depth clarification, but generally have difficulty framing a coherent comment.

The ARP (At Risk Property) committee did a fine job of identify building plots and using consultants to describe what might happen them and consequently the positive or negative cost to the town, aka property tax payers.
The consultants massaged egos with observations on median property values, now over $1,000,000, and the Town’s creative land management policy.
Their cost models also appeared to be massaged and were taken to task by many, as was the probability of the plots current owner playing the 40B or any other Chapter 40 cards.

The ‘Town’ received a mandate by a scrappy vote, although it was made clear the meeting was for information only, to pursue modest ‘friendly’ 40B development now to buy time for similar modest development later, ultimately protecting the Town from aggressive Chapter 40B forever.

When I got home, I took a look into my drained teacup and saw the following:

1. The DeNormandie property will be purchased by the Town as open space and a corridor to Minuteman National Park.
   
2. The BIIC site on route 2 will become a commercial development of office and/or retail, with perhaps custodial accommodation.
   
3. The Kennedy site which straddles Lincoln and Waltham will be the focus of friendly 40B development.
   
4. It will take 5 years minimum for any of these things to happen, unless overlay/zoning districts are amended, which will take 2 years.

If any of these things happen, you know they were Accidentally Witnessed here first.