The town’s Economic Development Committee set a target of this month to mail a letter to every commercial property owner along the Route 20 corridor cataloguing code violations, zoning deficiencies and what the committee described as neighborly requests for general upkeep.
It is the town’s most direct communication yet with commercial landlords as a broader overhaul of the corridor takes shape.
Whether the letter has been sent could not be confirmed as of Wednesday.
In its June 12 meeting, the committee said that the goal was to send the letter “within a month,” timing the outreach so property owners could act before fall business activity picks up. The committee, working with Town Manager Michael McCall and the Building Department, designed the letter around three categories: properties with active code or zoning violations — signage identified as the most common — that are subject to enforcement; conditions not currently prohibited by the zoning bylaw but that the committee believes should be added; and design and maintenance issues the town can ask owners to address voluntarily.
The letter was to carry signatures from the Town Manager’s office, the Building Department, and the EDC, and to include a property-specific attachment for each Route 20 address, summarizing conditions observed in a corridor walkthrough. Town Planner Robert Hummel said a request for qualifications for a Route 20 sidewalk engineering firm was nearing release around the same time.
The outreach is one piece of a broader Route 20 initiative that has accelerated over the past several months. The Planning Board is working with outside legal assistance to draft new corridor zoning, with $20,000 authorized by the Select Board. The Select Board discussed Route 20 economic development as one of five draft FY2027 priorities at its July 7 meeting, with formal adoption pending.
The new owners of Wayland Town Center, farther east on Route 20, are expected to file a master special permit amendment this month seeking approval for new gateway signs, a pedestrianized internal street and a seasonal skating rink.
