Zoning articles hint at deeper issues for Rte. 138

What has historic homes, sprawling corporate headquarters, a mishmash of zoning districts, and vacancies all over?

The answer, from a local perspective at least, is the Route 138 corridor in Canton — a busy stretch of roadway that has long been the target of commercial growth and revitalization, albeit with only mixed success to date.

A view of Route 138 at Washington Street (Moira Sweetland photo)

Spanning roughly 4.5 miles from the Blue Hills Reservation in the north to the Stoughton town line in the south, this two-lane state highway has become, in many respects, a symbol for Canton’s biggest hopes and fears, and the result has been a curious mixture of progress on the one hand and stagnation and even decline on the other over the past several decades.

Next month at Canton’s annual town meeting, the area will once again be the subject of discussion and debate as voters decide whether to implement additional zoning changes, including a proposed Senior Housing Overlay District near Randolph Street (see related story on page 1); a proposal to expand the definition of a trade shop; and a proposal to allow, by way of a special permit, light manufacturing uses in a business district.

Both of the latter two articles are being sponsored by Canton attorney Paul Schneiders on behalf of a single client, Anthony Will, with the goal of making a single vacant piece of property — the former Downey Chevrolet building at 1027 Turnpike Street — more attractive to potential buyers.

As Schneiders told the Planning Board last month, “This piece of property has been empty for five years, and that’s a very, very bad thing for the town of Canton in so many different ways, but in particular it’s a tax issue, because as soon as you don’t have any valuable use anymore then you can go in and get an abatement on your taxes.”

According to Schneiders, the primary stumbling block to finding a buyer thus far has been zoning, specifically the restrictions in a business zone that prohibit all forms of light manufacturing and limit trade shops of any kind to no more than 5,000 square feet of work and storage area.

Schneiders, therefore, is asking voters to allow the former use on a case-by-case basis with the approval of the zoning board and to expand the trade shop to 10,000 square feet of floor space. Both requests, he said, are modest and reasonable in scope and would help to get his client’s building, which has over 26,000 square feet of space, “up and running” and generating additional revenue for the town.

“Right now, it’s simply not a usable building,” he told the Planning Board, “and it’s not practical to just rip down a building like that, which isn’t that old, and start from scratch. So I’m trying to bring the zoning in line with something that makes some sense.”

Schneiders ultimately received a 2-2 vote from the Planning Board on both articles, as members Chris Connolly and Gary Vinciguerra had too many unanswered questions with the proposed increase in uses. However, Schneiders still likes his chances at town meeting, where he has succeeded in the past with other small zoning changes centered on Route 138.

In fact, in the last two years alone, he has successfully argued on behalf of two such changes: the addition of gas stations in a limited industrial zone — which constitutes the majority of Turnpike Street — and a provision allowing retailers, with ZBA approval, to store and sell items they have in their showroom. The bylaw had previously restricted storage in showrooms to floor samples only.

“I was trying to do exactly the same thing [with those two articles] that I’m trying to do here,” Schneiders told the Planning Board, “which is make 138 more viable so that we don’t drive up and down and see half of those buildings for rent, for sale, or empty — and that’s our economic base.”

In his view, the problem is clear: The current zoning on Route 138 is “totally broken” and needs a major overhaul in order to revitalize the area.

“It just doesn’t fit in with the current times,” said Schneiders in a follow-up interview. “What started off as a promising commercial base for the town has really faltered.”

He added that there doesn’t seem to be any “rhyme or reason” to the zoning pattern along Route 138, which alternates between business, limited industrial and residential zones, including areas that “do not make sense whatsoever.”

If Schneiders had his way, he would implement sweeping zoning changes along the roadway — something similar to the Route 138 Economic Opportunity Overlay District Bylaw that was defeated at town meeting in 2009.

Created by the Rte. 138 Corridor Study Committee and based in part on the 2004 Canton Master Plan, the proposed bylaw, which took nearly two years to draft, would have established two overlay zones — one from the Milton town line to the I-93/95 overpass and one from Randolph Street to Tracy Wood Road. The bylaw would have encouraged a variety of uses, from restaurants to research laboratories to movie theaters and mixed-use developments.

Opponents of the measure felt that it was too big and too drastic, and they were concerned about provisions that would encourage taller structures.

Yet the proposal was not without its supporters, chief among them being Selectman Sal Salvatori, who was the study committee chairman, as well as many within the business community, including the leadership of the Canton Association of Business and Industry and the Canton Economic Development Committee.

“We supported the rezoning of 138 at town meeting [in 2009],” noted EDC Chairman Gene Manning in a recent interview, “and we would certainly work with the planning and zoning boards in the future to try to come up with something that town meeting would consider.”

Manning, who also serves as CABI president, described the roadway as a “diamond in the rough” and one that has the potential to be a “major artery with vibrant business.” Part of the problem, he said, is that the area’s biggest commercial successes are actually hidden from view — either down along Royall Street, for instance, or in the industrial park comprising Dan and John roads.

“It’s deceiving in terms of what the average citizen sees,” said Manning, who pointed to the expansions of Organogenesis and Harbar as examples of recent success stories.

At the same time, Manning said the business groups in town have an ongoing interest in the revitalization of Route 138, and they would like to see improvements to the frontage as well as a possible expansion to four lanes or the addition of a turning lane.

“We’d like to see a comprehensive plan in place that involves increasing the size of the road,” said Manning, adding that 138 “could be a great economic engine in the future.”

Schneiders said he, too, supports the addition of one of more lanes to go along with other, more substantial changes in the area.

“The [2009 bylaw] was probably a little too ambitious,” he said, “but I think that is the correct way to do it. My way so far has been shortsighted. All I’m doing now, because people walk into my office, is I’m slowly chipping away at a big, big problem.”

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