Opinions and Editorials

Hello, fellow Westboronians -- here's my explanation of the zoning articles coming up at the spring 2010 Annual Town Meeting for Westborough.

You may find a copy of the formal 2010 warrant (mostly) re-entered here as individual articles for easy viewing, on Westborough.com.  (Some charts and tables are only available in the official copy)

The main zoning articles are:

• 18. Nathan Fisher House Rezoning – (Planning Board)
• 30. Zoning Bylaw Industrial D (ID) Overlay District Amendment (Planning Board)
• 31. Senior Housing Overlay District – (Planning Board)
• 32. Mixed Used District Bylaw Amendment- (Planning Board)

#18 - Nathan Fisher House Rezoning.  The building is currently listed as a historical building, and with that comes restrictions on how the building should look.  Nobody's going to be tearing it down.

The problem is that it's zoned for town/municipal use.  Sure, we could put town offices in the building... but that would be prohibitively costly.  Instead, the current plan is to sell the property, and make some money for the town.

But, given the current town/municipal use zoning -- no commercial buyer would be interested in such a property, as this zoning limits what they can do.   

INSTEAD, the proposal is to change the zoning to "Highway Business", thus bringing it into line with the other types of uses you see on Route 9.  This zoning change would make the property much more attractive (and valuable!) to potential buyers.   We'd get more money for the property, and -- since the historical restrictions will remain in place -- the exterior of the building will remain..

#30 - Zoning Bylaw Industrial D (ID) Overlay District Amendment.  This proposal is intended to create more options for the eastern end of town off Route 9.  Where we currently have certain "Industrial B" zoning, this "overlay district" retains IB zoning (for those who want it) while at the same time providing for two  new options for building, namely: 1) an increase in height from 4 to 6 stories, and 2) a decrease in the open space for required for parking [because additional spots are needed, to help accommodate for the demand created by 2 new stories.)

Again, this proposal is intended to increase value of the Industrial B lots on the eastern side of town (east of Flanders).

An important facet of this new zoning is the requirement of a special permit from the Planning Board in order to take advantage of these new options.  A builder is required to pursue certain objectives such as low-impact or other "green" development techniques (see section 5452 for formal wording):

• Maximize opportunities for walking and bicycling
• Incorporate best practices in energy efficient design, environmental protection, stormwater management, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) criteria and low impact development (LID) techniques wherever practicable.
• Retain existing mature vegetation wherever possible, including winding of sidewalks and creative siting of structures.
• Use native, non-invasive, landscape materials for buffers that are hardy for New England weather conditions and disease resistant.
• Integrate as appropriate a mix of trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual flower beds to the proposed use of the site.

#31 - Senior Housing Overlay District - (Planning Board).  Attendees last 2009 Spring Town Meeting may recall "Article 28, Zoning Bylaw Amendment" (i.e. the "Senior Housing Overlay District") which was not passed, and instead referred back to the Planning Board.  This re-proposed article removes the main objections that had been raised with the language regarding the authority to waive dimensional requirements.    

In 2009, the defeated article stated "[Section 5320] .. The Planning BOard may vary the dimensional and parking requirements of this section, including open sapce requirements..."

This year's article removes the mention of dimensional requirements:  "[Section 5320] ... The Planning Board may modify the density, parking and open space requirements..."

This proposed article returns the authority for addressing variances in dimensional requirements to the Zoning Board of Appeals -- a desire expressed at last year's town meeting.

#32. Mixed Use District Bylaw Amendment - (Planning Board).  Residents may recall how the Westborough State Hospital is being closed and the property will become "surplus".   Because the underlying parcels do NOT presently have zoning restrictions, the town is presently at a big disadvantage.  

The lack of underlying zoning creates an "absence" of value, as evidenced by the state not reimbursing the town for usage of that land.   In fact, we have indeed lost over $50,000 in payments that could have been made to the town in the past from the state.

If the land were to be zoned as proposed, then any prospective buyer would have the ability to specifically assess the value of that land for particular intended development purposes.  This in turn would create an incentive for the state to put the land up for sale -- where they would be able to receive a better return -- rather than to freely put it up for offer as surplus to other state agencies, and receive nothing in return.

Also note, that if the land does transfer to other state agencies, it may be put to any use.  The town does NOT have a say, if it remains under state control.

The creating of zoning for this area, however, is a well-understood method to "create value" for the land, and thus increase the chance that the state's best use is to sell the land to a private developer.  Then then town's interests, as having been expressed by the underlying zoning, are protected as we are able to control how this land may be used.

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Corrections and comments welcome.