Planners oppose downtown condo project

By Jay Turner

Already mulling a zoning change that would prevent any new residences from being built in downtown Canton, the town’s Planning Board last week decided, by the slimmest of margins, not to support a bid by two local developers to build a seven-unit condominium project on Plymouth Street.

Source: Canton Community TV

The project in question, submitted by Scott Lenhart and John McNiece under the name Plymouth Street LLC, would involve razing an existing three-family house and replacing it with a residential building with seven two-bedroom units. The development happens to fall within the Canton Center Economic Opportunity District (CCEOD) — a mixed-use overlay zone that is currently the subject of a Planning Board-sponsored zoning amendment at the upcoming annual town meeting.

Despite this fact and the considerable opposition they have faced from abutters, the project’s developers had still hoped to receive a favorable recommendation to take to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which holds final authority for granting a permit and is expected to hear the case this week.

Instead, the two developers will head to the ZBA with what amounts to a mixed message from the Planning Board, which voted 2-1 in opposition to the project, with one member abstaining and another member absent.

In his report to the Planning Board last Wednesday, the board’s consulting engineer Tom Houston lauded the developers’ team for identifying solutions to the majority of his concerns, but he also advised the board of a few outstanding issues, including a plan to divert surface water runoff onto an adjacent property that he said could potentially require an easement.

“This issue is very critical,” said Houston, referring to the stormwater plan. “The feasibility of the project hangs on this I think.”

The developers’ attorney, Suzanne Matthews, countered that the project would not create additional flooding nor would it change the ultimate path of the surface water runoff. However, one of the neighbors whose property is affected by the runoff refused to buy the argument, while other neighbors pointed out additional concerns, including everything from potential traffic and parking problems to environmental impacts and the lack of accessible open space.

Meanwhile, the two Planning Board members who opposed the project, Chairman Kristin Mirliani and Jeremy Comeau, expressed another big concern — namely that the project violates the spirit of the CCEOD, which was intended to promote a specific type of mixed-use development referred to in planning circles as “smart growth.”

Both Mirliani and Comeau cited the recent increase in residential development — and the lack of accompanying business development — as reasons that the CCEOD has failed to live up to its stated purpose. As a result, the board is considering an amendment to the bylaw that would completely remove the residential component from the district, which encompasses the area along Washington Street roughly from Neponset Street north to Lewis Street.

By all accounts a drastic measure, the proposal has nonetheless already been submitted onto the warrant and currently has at least a few vocal supporters in Comeau and Pat Johnson, a member of the Finance Committee who regularly attends Planning Board meetings.

However, it seems unlikely at this point that the entire board will endorse the amendment, with Chris Connolly and Gary Vinciguerra having already stated their opposition and Mirliani expressing a willingness to pursue a compromise measure.

The amendment has already generated a response from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional smart growth agency that has collaborated with Canton on several projects, including the downtown streetscape project. The MAPC has since sent a letter to the board hailing Canton Center as a model for sustainable growth while imploring the board to reconsider its proposal.

Others who have spoken out against the amendment include former Planning Board member Peter Pineo and zoning attorney Paul Schneiders, who argued that the zoning change would create hundreds of nonconforming uses and would “totally screw up our whole downtown bylaw.”

Schneiders, who helped write the CCEOD back in 2000 along with the town planner and local builder John Marini, suggested that the Planning Board borrow an idea from another overlay district and simply require all new residential projects to have a commercial component.

“I urge you not to go down the other route because I just think it’s a zoning nightmare,” he said.

Schneiders, coincidentally, is also the sponsor of a pair of separate zoning amendments that would create a new district within the CCEOD specifically for the purpose of building a mixed-use project with a sizable residential component.

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The proposed article, submitted on behalf of Canton Development Properties, would add a new “zone C” that includes the entire 40-acre Plymouth Rubber site on Revere Street. This would mark the third such attempt by CDP to rezone the property at town meeting.

In a presentation to the Planning Board on February 1, Schneiders acknowledged that the zoning change would likely not pass as it stands; however, he said his clients are motivated to offer a robust mitigation package with lots of “goodies” for the town, including open space for public use and the preservation of the historic Paul Revere barn and rolling mill.

Schneiders suggested that there is more than enough time to come up with an acceptable mitigation package in advance of town meeting. The Planning Board’s immediate response was lukewarm at best, although both sides agreed to continue the hearing at the board’s next meeting on March 7.

In other news:

* The board voted 3-1 to withdraw one of its own zoning articles after deciding that it was simply too flawed to be salvaged in time for town meeting. The amendment, which was prepared by Comeau on behalf of the board, would have replaced the flexible development bylaw — which clusters the homes within a subdivision in exchange for more open space — with a revised version called the “Open Space Residential Development” bylaw.

Both Mirliani and Vinciguerra identified numerous concerns with the new bylaw, including issues of substance as well as style. Pat Johnson also blasted the new version, particularly its definition of open space, which would permit “absolutely unbuildable pieces of property” within its calculations.

“This article is not even close to being ready,” said Mirliani, who also read a letter from the Conservation Commission that supported her position.

Comeau, however, was disappointed with the decision to withdraw, arguing that there was still sufficient time before town meeting to “flush out any differences” and improve the amendment.

* At its previous meeting on February 1, the board voted 4-0 to oppose a new “senior assisted living overlay district” in an area along Walpole Street currently designated as open space. The proposed zoning change, submitted by the Northbridge Companies, would apply to a 10-acre site on the property of Knollwood Cemetery for the purpose of building an assisted living community.

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The Northbridge representatives argued that they would be bringing a valuable service to Canton while also improving on the nearby open space and making it more accessible to the public.

The proposal, however, generated an overwhelmingly negative response from board members — three of whom currently live or grew up in the area — as well as dozens of neighbors who attended the meeting.

Several people spoke about the dangerous traffic conditions that already exist along Walpole Street, while others spoke about the importance of preserving the town’s limited amount of open space. George Jenkins added that the project would completely “change the face of a residential neighborhood.”

“I, for one, would vehemently oppose it, and I would do the same on town meeting floor,” he said. “I would rise in opposition to it very strongly.”

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