By Joe Stewart

In the largest Town Meeting in recent history, Wrentham voters overwhelmingly decided against an overlay zone to authorize high density housing, the purpose of which was to comply with the MBTA Communities act. Although official counts were not available at press time, the vote was 542 nays to 53 yays. The voters also approved spending $1,170,000 to purchase 15 acres of land on Hancock Street for a future well in West Wrentham.

Town Moderator Edward Goddard delayed the start of the meeting for 40 minutes to allow voters to check in and find a seat. With a capacity of just over 800 seats, nearly every seat was taken in the King Philip Regional High School auditorium.

First up, Article 1, was to authorize spending $1.2M from the water retained earnings fund to purchase land for a well to draw from the Blackstone River Valley watershed. Former State Representative Shawn Dooley inquired about the presence of PFAS in the well water (PFAS, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic chemicals that the EPA has begun regulating due to ill health effects) and noted that recently some Massachusetts communities have had to implement expensive filtering systems to achieve compliance with clean water regulations. Following brief discussion, the article was approved with a standing vote count of 436 yays and 164 nays, easily surpassing the ⅔ vote requirement.

Next up, Article 2, was to amend the town bylaws to add the MBTA Communities Multi-Family Overlay District and designate two subdistricts. Planning Board Chairman Michael McKnight summarized the proposed two subdistricts totaling approximately 52 acres, one abutting the Franklin Country Club off Elysium Street and one near Foxboro on East Street, as minimizing im pact to Wrentham while complying with state law. He noted that the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend that town voters approve the new bylaw with the multi-family overlay zones.

Interim Town Manager Michael King summarized the law and projections of the financial impacts of constructing all 750 potential units, indicating that the impact to the town budget would range from $4M to $13M annually.

Long-time town resident and chairman of the Conservation Commission, Leo Immonen, provided a summary of why voters should approve the bylaw, including challenging the Town’s financial impact projections, particularly the assumed number of units, number of people per unit and number of students, and highlighting that Wrentham is aging and needs young families to flourish.  

In wrapping up, Immonen shared that during his decades of public service in Wrentham he always tried to be fair and to comply with both the letter and intent of the law - he urged Town Meeting to comply with the law in this case too. Moderator Edward Goddard gaveled the audience to quiet the jeering in response to Immonen’s “comply with the law” comments.

Attendees cheered Select Board member Chris Gallo’s impassioned opposition to the overlay zones, referring to the MBTA Communities law as “extortion.” Gallo noted that the Select Board had given the State Auditor plenty of time to rule on whether the MBTA Communities act is an unfunded mandate and expressed disappointment that the Auditor had declined to do so, citing ongoing litigation. Gallo urged voters to vote no because the town doesn’t have key information from the auditor, both the unfunded mandate analysis and the fiscal impact analysis, and because the Milton litigation should be decided before voters make a decision.  

Likewise, Select Board chairman Joe Botaish expressed his opposition, referencing the US Constitution’s opening words, “We the people,” and characterizing the state law as an unfunded mandate being forced upon Wrentham taxpayers. His comments were met with cheers from voters as well.

Later, Select Board member Michelle Rouse highlighted the “checks and balances” form of our system of government, particularly Town Meeting serving as a check on state legislature overreach. Additionally, Rouse noted that 32 communities are in opposition to the MBTA Communities mandate, including the town of Milton, and that Wrentham should wait for the outcome of that current litigation, referring to the Attorney General’s suit to force Milton’s compliance with state law. Rouse too urged voters to reject the bylaw.

Just before 10 p.m., after almost 2 hours of discussion, Moderator Goddard secured unanimous consent to proceed with an up or down vote on the MBTA Communities article. With just 53 standing in support of the article, it was immediately clear that even the simple majority threshold would not be achieved; 542 voted to reject the article. As of January 1, 2025, Wrentham will no longer be in compliance with the state law and expects that discretionary grants will no longer be disbursed to Wrentham. 

Wrentham Cable Access recorded the meeting and it is available on their streaming site. This URL starts at Mr. Gallo’s speech opposing the MBTA Communities Bylaw: https://bit.ly/3P1QTh8.