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Planning Board and Selectmen Lay Foundation Process for Legacy Farms formed
December 17, 2007 — The Selectmen were the guests at Monday's Planning Board meeting, invited in a letter from Chairman Mark Abate who wrote, "The Board recognizes that the issues to be resolved and the impacts to the Town of the development are broader than the Planning Board's jurisdiction," referring to the combined 940 residential unit, 450,000 square foot commercial Legacy Farms development proposed by Boulder Capital. Town Counsel Raymond Miyares laid out the five areas he believes need to completed before getting the zoning changes for the 700+ acre development to Town Meeting for a positive vote.
"One, we need to participate in the MEPA (Massachusetts Environmental
Policy Act) process," he said. On November 30, 2007, Boulder Capital
submitted an Environmental Notification Form that found its way from the
State to the Town Hall on December 12. Mr. Miyares said that Boulder
President Roy MacDowell may want to offer an extension to the window
offered for comments by various Town Boards and departments to the
Secretary, because of the late receipt and the holidays.
(NOTE
The 60MB document can be viewed here, or by choosing Boulder
The second step in the process, Mr. Miyares said, is to negotiate a Host Community Agreement with Boulder prior to Town Meeting. Some towns have negotiated with developers to kick in millions of dollars to mitigate the impact of the introduction of a large number of new children into the system. Other circumstances, like traffic impact, could be mitigated by a payment to the town, or the construction of infrastructure. Later in the meeting, Mr. MacDowell noted that some of of the offers he has already made are mitigating conditions, such as 500 acres of open space. The third piece is to negotiate an agreement for the Alprilla Farms well, a Town-owned water source Mr. MacDowell has offered to develop for mutual benefit. Fourth is a printable set of zoning changes, Mr. Miyares said. Boulder has been meeting with the Zoning Advisory Committee every week for several weeks on designing an OSMUD, an Open Space Mixed Use Development that features abundant open space in trade for dense, low impact housing. READ MORE... The fifth step, he said is to complete a Master Plan oversight. The subject of a negotiating team for the entire process came up. "It should be left to the professional staff at Town Hall and Town Counsel," said Town Manager Anthony Troiano. "We are comfortable with Tony [Troiano], Elaine [Lazarus, Town Planner] Ray, and a member of the Planning Board," said Muriel Kramer, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, offering her idea of a management team, to which Planning Board Chairman Mark Abate agreed. The group discussed the need for a project manager. "The person who does it needs political cover," said Ms. Lazarus, alluding to political divisions that have marred many recent efforts and the need for broad political support. "There are [political] carcasses littered all over the place," said Ms. Kramer. "We are going to need an Assistant Planner," offered member John Coolidge, after the group noted the increased workload for Town Planner Elaine Lazarus. An assistant has been voted in the past, but never funded. Selectman Brian Herr suggested that the proposed group be created, move forward and then determine if they need a manager. Mrs. Kramer said the final decision will wait until the Selectmen's meeting on December 18, 2007, after discussions with Selectman Michael Shepard, who was absent on this evening. |
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