Plymouth Rubber developers seek zoning freeze

After a period of relative inactivity following their latest unsuccessful rezoning attempt, representatives for Canton Holdings LLC, owners of the former Plymouth Rubber factory site on Revere Street, resurfaced at a Planning Board hearing last week with a proposal to subdivide the 40-acre property into five industrial lots.

A view inside the former Plymouth Rubber factory

Exactly what that could mean for the future of the site is still largely up in the air, although for now it is simply a legal maneuver to freeze the existing industrial zoning, according to Paul Schneiders, attorney for the developer.

As Schneiders told a group of roughly a dozen abutters who turned out for the Wednesday night meeting, “No project is on the drawing board; no buildings have been designed; no holes are about to be dug in the ground for foundations. So those of you who are, like myself as a resident, waiting for something exciting to happen at that 40-acre site, it’s not going to happen as a direct result of this hearing.”

Schneiders said his clients would still prefer to build a residential development on the property; however, after several failed attempts to secure a zoning change, they now feel they have “no other choice” but to move forward with a commercial development.

With this fact in mind, Schneiders said the proposed subdivision plan is merely a concept — complete with a 600-foot road that will likely never be built — all in an effort to lock in the current zoning for a period of eight years as permitted under Chapter 40A of the Massachusetts General Laws.

Under the provisions of that statute, for reasons that Schneiders said make no sense at all, a zoning freeze can be triggered only if an applicant files a preliminary subdivision plan — which Canton Holdings did back in October — and then follows it up with a definitive plan not more than seven months later.

“We’re not on the cusp of building anything here,” said Schneiders. “We’re simply defining what we can do in the future legally, so this is all a legal exercise at this moment.”

In an interview with the Citizen prior to the hearing, Schneiders noted that the zoning freeze would protect the developer from an unexpected zoning change.

“This is a preemptive effort to make sure we can use the land for what it is zoned for,” he said. “We are spending a lot of time and money with commercial real estate brokers, and we really don’t know what the town is ever going to do. They could come along and try to rezone it as a park or something.”

And the developer’s fears, at least in this case, may indeed be warranted, as it has long been an open secret that the Board of Selectmen would like to acquire the historic property — either by way of a purchase or through a donation arrangement similar to the one that netted the town the Reservoir Pond and dam.

Furthermore, the town’s new Community Preservation Plan, released last week by the Canton Community Preservation Committee, is littered with references to purchasing Plymouth Rubber, most notably in the public input section. A total of three town boards and multiple citizens identified acquisition of the site as a top priority, with suggested uses ranging from open space to a tennis court facility to the restoration of the Revere Barn and Copper Rolling Mill, both of which have ties to the famed patriot Paul Revere.

One resident who was mentioned in the report suggested a transfer to the town and envisioned that the site could become an “Eden” in the center of Canton, while another resident suggested a long-term project that would celebrate the town’s industrial and colonial history.

The irony in all of this, according to the developer, is that many of the aforementioned suggestions were actually incorporated into the original project that was defeated at annual town meeting in 2008 — a project that included a mix of residential and retail space as well as walking trails, preservation of the barn and mill, and various other community amenities.

“We’ve tried. Believe me, we’ve tried,” said Schneiders. “And we’re more than happy to revisit the idea of a residential development, but we haven’t been able, in seven years, to talk the town into residential.”

Schneiders said his clients remain open to suggestions but are also prepared to “go with what they have,” which is a large, commercially zoned site near the center of Canton. He noted that they have multiple interested buyers and are “close” on a couple of different ideas, although he declined to provide any further specifics.

As for the subdivision proposal, Schneiders requested a four-week continuance in order to have time to respond to the questions raised by the Planning Board’s consulting engineers. The board also reviewed a series of waivers requested by the applicant and will revisit the matter at its next meeting on Wednesday, May 21.

Also at last week’s hearing, Bernie Plante of Canton Holdings mentioned that the assisted living facility that is slated to be built on the commercial parking lot site across the street from Plymouth Rubber was scheduled to break ground on Thursday, April 18. The project, known as “Cornerstone at Canton” and operated by Massachusetts-based Senior Living Residences, will consist of an 86-unit residence with 30 “memory care” units.

Plante said that Canton Holdings, as part of its contractual arrangement with the assisted living operators, has agreed to raze four buildings within the Plymouth Rubber factory site: an office building, an adjacent brick building, a pump house, and a “gate house” or small lunch building. He said the work will be completed within the next four to eight weeks and will produce minimal disturbances. “The only work that will happen out there is the destruction of those four buildings,” Plante said.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Apr 24 2014. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.