Politics & Government

Today is Deadline for ZBA to Finalize Affordable Housing Decision

The ZBA received a filing extension until Dec. 19. At today's meeting (4 p.m. at Town Hall), the board finalize its decision so it can be filed on time to meet the deadline.

 

The Zoning Board of Appeals was granted an extension to finalize its decision on The Parc at Medfield, an affordable housing project proposed off West Street.

The ZBA will finalize its decision today -- 4 p.m. in the Town Hall Chenery Room -- in order to meet that Dec. 19 deadline.

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The project, which was approved on Dec. 6 by a vote of 2 to 1 (Bob Sylvia was the one dissenting vote and resigned after fellow board members voted to approve the project), calls for 92 (down from 96) affordable housing units to be built on a nine acre parcel (of which only a portion is buildable) off West Street. 

At today's meeting, the board -- with acting Chairman Russ Hallissey -- will finalize the decision including language that addresses the nearly 50 waivers applicant Gatehouse Group LLC has requested. 

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Waiver requests concern many different issues such as traffic, site visit verbiage, parking, the level of dirt cover over underground utilities, the general level of fill on the site, effects on wetlands and water supply, payment process for items such as sidewalks and a ladder for the fire department (to access the top of the proposed buildings), and the accuracy of which purchase and sale agreement is relevant to this filing (there was another project also proposed for the same site). 

Hallissey said, "The original P&S is between the owner and Gatehouse. Subsequent to that, a new P&S agreement was entered into between the owner and the applicant, and also somehow a statement as to why the signed P&S now trumps the first." 

"At this point, I would suggest that we direct Mark [Bobrowski, legal consultant] and Judi [Barrett, planning consultant] to go ahead and do another draft which should be the final version," said Hallissey. 

The consultants agreed to the timeline. 

The board is expected to finalize the decision at today's meeting. 

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