Town Meeting Articles were a main topic of discussion for the Planning Board during their Monday, March 9 meeting. Among these were a proposed article for parking in the Downtown Business district and the Crossroads Redevelopment district.
The proposed modification to the regulation in parking in the Downtown Business district states that there will be no off-street parking between a building and Main Street, but it will be allowed on other streets by special permit. Board members noted that the Colella’s building is currently on a nonconforming lot and would continue to be on a nonconforming lot if the article passes at Town Meeting. Currently, the Historic District is also included in this proposal, though Zoning Advisory Committee chairman John Coutinho felt that the Historic District should not be included. Coutinho also noted that if the Colella’s building is ever rebuilt to conform to this bylaw, the line of sight at the intersection would be lost.
Planning Board vice-chair John Ferrari stated that the benefit of extending the bylaw through the district would be that the downtown would be walkable. Ferrari also stated that communities with walkable downtowns tend to have businesses on the side of the road, as proposed, and the roads tend to be flat. Although most Board members agreed with the change, some felt that only one side of Grove Street should be restricted this way.
For the Crossroads Redevelopment district discussion, project manager Steven Zieff, property owner Finley Perry and traffic engineer Robert Nagi were in attendance. So far, there has been concern on what the impact to West Main Street will be, how that section of roadway will operate with the potential development and where the project would go in along that section of the roadway. In order to accommodate for the new uses being proposed in the area, a new roadway is being considered that would connect to Wood Street and provide a through way where there is currently a dead end. Nagi stated that the impacts created by the project will be considered along with checks and balances to ensure that what is proposed is what is ultimately built. Although it is hard to predict what will be built with the potential zoning change, the goal is to identify a range of opportunities while working with the community so that what is built is beneficial to the community and the developers.
Projects that would be allowed by right in the zone are professional and medical offices, financial institutions and banks, restaurants and retail stores up to 15,000 square feet which is a brand new use in the district. Multi-family dwellings are also proposed in the area with the maximum number of apartments at 375, and Perry stated that he would have no problem limiting the number of bedrooms as it has to be negotiable with the number of units. Board member Frank D’Urso was concerned about having these dwellings in the area. The dwellings would be elevated with garages constructed underneath. When asked how the removal of these dwellings would affect the project, Perry stated that he would withdraw the article. D’Urso then commented that having residents would have too big of an impact on the project and on traffic in the area.
“Right now I still think that [a] multi-family dwelling in the context of the project might either be too much or could easily be too much, and we don’t have enough context to understand that at this point,” said D’Urso.
Perry then stated that the point of the project is to create a mixed use development, and that a residential component is necessary for the project to work.
“We don’t feel that the retail will work without people there, or the hotel or any of the other elements that are in there,” said Perry.
Perry also stated that the project would probably have to be built as a whole rather than in pieces, and that it will take a lot of time. Without residents, the stores would not come to the area. The area is also a dead-end, and a connector road would have people going by the area. Zieff stated that they are willing to re-route roads through the project so as not to impact the surrounding residents and draw people in. In order to ensure that the connector road will be built, it can be a mitigation or as part of a host/community agreement.
When Ferrari asked how other landowners in the area felt about the project, Perry stated that he and his partners own about half of the land in the area, and the other landowners are not opposed to the idea. Perkin/Elmer is concerned about the roadway because they have a closed campus and would want the roadway to go through in a way that does not affect them, but are otherwise in favor of the development because it provides amenities for employees and may attract more workers.
However, Weismantel was concerned because he could not find a mixed use district in the immediate area that seems to be successful and was not sure if the project would receive a ⅔ vote at Town Meeting. Weismantel was also concerned about putting a Master Plan on an entire area where there would be no real control over the property, and stated that he would feel better if it were a few small properties that could be controlled. Weismantel then cited the Village Center at Legacy Farms, stating that if the developer does not want to build the entire area, then the Center will not be built.
Weismantel was also unsure that, with an increase in school children to the area, any new dwelling in town would not pass at Town Meeting. Another concern was the amount of unknowns in the project, and Weismantel was unsure if what the town voted on is what would ultimately be built. Weismantel stated that the market is for residential multi-family apartments in the area, and could see just those being built in the area. Zieff then stated that through host/community agreements, covenants and restrictions, he, Perry and Nagi would be able to guarantee that a mixed use district would be built as proposed.
D’Urso also stated that he would like to see the maximum number of apartments be lowered from 375 to 250, and have the maximum building height limited to 70. D’Urso said that he felt it was a good compromise and thought he could support that proposal at Town Meeting.
The discussion will be continued at the March 23 Planning Board meeting. To watch the full Planning Board meeting, click here.
