Joshua Ames, Candidate for Three-Year Term on Planning Board

Joshua (“Josh”) Ames, a candidate running for a three-year seat on Westwood’s Planning Board, believes that civic engagement is important. He notes that it can be difficult for parents of young children, like himself, to become involved in local government, but he encourages them to do it if they can afford the time. He describes himself as passionate and dedicated and says, “I do have a strong sense of civic duty. . . . I think it’s important for us to step up to that challenge.” He views becoming involved in town government as a way to give back to the community.

A senior manager of environmental health and safety at the pharmaceutical company Affinivax, Mr. Ames has lived in Westwood for six years, although he notes he has been a part of town life for ten years. He has a son at Downey School and a daughter at Sheehan School.

He has worked in the health and safety field for twenty years and has been involved in construction. He says his experience with reading planning documents, especially with an eye on safety, will be useful on the Planning Board.

Mr. Ames ran for Select Board in 2020. His platform then, emphasizing community, sustainability, and growth, still holds true two years later in his run for Planning Board.

In service of community, Mr. Ames continues to be a supporter of small, local businesses. He appreciates University Station, but believes that communities tend to gather not at stores like Target, but at the local bar or coffeeshop. He would like to see Westwood become more cohesive by making it easier and more accessible to gather and be together, and mentions neighboring towns as models.

“Especially after the past three years of a pandemic, I think we’re all [] desiring something to feel more connected. I see so many people look at neighboring towns and how their zoning has allowed them to build [] community centers to aggregate, interact in. I really want us to do the same thing and I think we’ve already started taking those steps.”

Mr. Ames also continues to advocate for sustainability. He believes that being proactive on solar issues is favorable to being the target of state requirements down the road. He supports building sustainability into the zoning code, for example. He would love to incorporate sustainability and water reclamation design in new commercial construction, especially big box stores.

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At the same time, while noting that homeowners have the right to install their own solar arrays, he appears to support some limitations, saying, “I don’t think anybody wants a [] five hundred kilowatt solar farm. We just don’t have the space, right? I think that’s the commodity we have the least of here.”

Similarly, he would prefer that Westwood proactively address the issue of affordable housing instead of being subject to state proscriptions sometime in the future. While some have suggested that Westwood need only to turn down state funding in order to avoid the state mandate to create a multi-family district by-right, Mr. Ames observes that this is not a realistic option. The state funding represents a lot of money which can be used to enhance Westwood, he says.

“I think it really is important that we look at our zoning and look how we’re planning our community to best support not only who lives there, but the demographic that’s moving in and what are those needs.” He notes that to do so will be an effort to be more inclusive. He says the current Planning Board is doing a good job within the state’s current constraints, and adds that the multi-family housing district should be designed in such in a way that it will not change the character of Westwood into a West Roxbury or Roslindale.

On possible changes to zoning that he would like to see, Mr. Ames would like zoning bylaws to be more friendly and for homeowners to be able to modify their homes with less effort. He notes that there are differences between the Zoning Board of Appeals bylaws and the Planning Board bylaws, which can be confusing.

An issue that Mr. Ames sees coming up for the Planning Board is how to use the Deerfield School property, once that school is consolidated with the Hanlon School at the current Hanlon School site. He would like to see zoning in place to encourage a city center like what is present in Islington, and notes that open space could be included. He raises the possibility of the town retaining ownership of that parcel in downtown Westwood, and suggests public-private partnerships. These are ways, he says, which could increase revenue for the town through taxes, long-term leases, or fees that could be used to offset the upcoming costs of necessary renovations to the Sheehan School.

“There’s so many ways to skin a cat,” says Mr. Ames. A way that I approach all problems is to be open-minded about what those solutions look like. There’s not just one solution.”

Thanks to Mr. Joshua Ames for speaking with Westwood Minute.

Editor's note: Westwood Minute takes no position on candidates running for election. Articles featuring candidates are provided for the purpose of community information and interest.

Publication timing and presentation of articles are a function of the capabilities of the publishing platform and what resources are available for an article to publish at a given time. Differences should not be interpreted as any endorsement of one candidate over another.

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