Town seeks proposals for Riverside Road housing

Five years after the town negotiated a land swap with Greatland Realty Partners for a small piece of land at the end of Riverside Road, Weston is taking its biggest step yet toward developing housing on the parcel.

The 1.35 acres of land, located at the end of Riverside Road past Greatland’s lab space and abutting both the railroad and Interstate 95, could be the site of up to 20 units of housing, with at least 10% of those units deemed as affordable. The Select Board authorized a request for proposals (RFP) for developers on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and the deadline for submissions is Nov. 19.

The Riverside Housing Working Group, a seven-member committee that includes four residents living in close proximity to the site, developed the RFP and will review all submissions before providing a recommendation to the Select Board. Additional points in the review process will be given to developers offering more than a minimum of 10% affordable units, according to the RFP.

“I think we’re going to get more specialized developers would be my guess,” Town Planner Imai Aiu said, noting the size and affordability constraints might deter some developers. He added that the development of this parcel fits directly into the town’s 2021 Housing Production Plan.

Tom Timko, a member of the working group and the Affordable Housing Trust, explained the parcel has many challenges due to its location, but there are plenty of benefits to be found, too.

With a state-wide housing crunch, additional units, especially if attractive for commuters, could be welcomed by renters.

“It is sitting overlooking the second- or third-busiest intersection in the state between 128, the Mass. Pike, Route 30, the train line, the river. You couldn’t pick a more unfriendly site,” Timko said. “That being said, you drive in on the Mass. Pike and you see housing on both sides. It’s not going to be a location for families, necessarily, it’s going to be for singles or couples that are transitioning or moving up the housing ladder.”

Even with the site’s challenges, Timko said the RFP, which he said is “pretty vanilla” with few special conditions, offers numerous options for developers to work with.

“We’ve had that [site] on the books for a number of years. We’d like to see something happen there, and we’ll see what the RFP response is,” Timko said. “It’s going to be tricky to get someone to do this, but there’s such demand for housing and there’s a lot of developers [looking for projects]… I think we would accept fewer [affordable units] under the right circumstances. That is one of the conditions in the proposal; that’s a flexible piece.”

The journey to developing Riverside Road began in 2021, when the town signed a development agreement with Greatland and residents at Town Meeting approved the rezoning of the property. The development agreement included several stipulations benefitting Weston, including contributing $2 million to the town and up to $3 million in pedestrian and traffic improvements.

At the 2026 Annual Town Meeting, residents gave the Select Board the authority to dispose of the property, the final step in the parcel’s development.

Aiu said the long process in moving this project forward is the result of the many moving pieces, including the zoning change, the development agreement and the land swap, as well as the legal requirements for advertising and developing the RFP.

“It’s a lot of steps to transfer over a property when you’re dealing with town property,” Aiu said, thanking the working group for getting this project and RFP to its current state.