A proposed car park for Framingham’s Adesa on Lowland Street received a final hearing Thursday eve.
Chairperson Karen Langton (above) asked that any discussion be limited to any new matters not previously discussed related to traffic and noise.
Sander Rikleen, representing Adesa, echoed Langton’s remarks in agreeing to only discuss subjects not adequately brought up at prior meetings.
Attorney Peter Barbieri (below) said that the exit and radius back onto Lowland Street had been reconfigured so as not to put vehicles into the opposing traffic.
Keri Pyke, (below) of Howard, Stein, and Hudson fielded questions regarding vehicle trips. The concerns centered around Whitney and Washington Streets.
Pyke noted that between drivers being driven to the site and actual vehicles hauling cars, there would be twenty trips per hour or one trip every three minutes. Not all trips would originate from Adesa in Framingham with a small percentage entering and exiting via Route 16 coming and going towards the town center.
Greg Tocci (below) answered questions regarding noise.
Tocci noted that a sound barrier, 168 Foot in length and 7 foot high would be installed on the southern side of the prosed site to alleviate sounds affecting Marilyn and Lowland Street neighbors.
The public comment portion of the meeting lasted 20 minutes. Resident concerns: Pat Hafford of Lowland Street -sound barrier and noise, Audrea Szabatura of Noel Dr. – noise, Martin Velilla of Marilyn St. – beavers, Jon Foster of Brook St., – traffic and a twice replaced culvert near Cranberry Lane, Liam O’Sullivan, Fiske St. – Lighting, Jeff Forman, Dalton Rd., – traffic at Whitney and Washington St., Keith Bailey, Lowland St. – hydraulic fluid, and Barbara Ryan of Irving Place, – community.
Town Counsel Brian Winner (above) stated that the board could close the hearing except to receive comments and written documents from the applicant.
The Planning Board closed the hearing and will deliberate their findings at a near future date.
The truck traffic on rt 16 through downtown Holliston is already oppressive and too aggressive for a small town. to increase this will make Holliston just a truck route to other parts of Metrowest. Enough is enough!
And how much tax revenue would the town receive for the neighbors losing house value where the noise barrier will be
Do it.
Today I watched yet another dump truck take Lowland and turn onto Woodland St. Do we really think these transports, coming from all over, will abide by the commercial vehicle exclusion on Woodland?
It’s an industrial park what do people expect to go in there? Are we driving out businesses that want to come to this town?
While it is up to the Planning Board and Town Counsel to determine if they have a legal right to deny the application or not, I think that that is separate (though admittedly intertwined) question as far as whether it is a project that residents want or not. While it is true that industrial projects belong in industrial parks and that the Town should not make a habit of turning away businesses that wish to do business in our town (we do this FAR too often), I believe that this project is also different in that it really offers neither the Town nor the residents any real tangible value. In fact, in many ways, it actually provides negative value. 1) Using the Company’s own documentation, their anticipated increase in property value would only result in ~$5,000 of incremental tax revenue to the town; 2) once developed as a parking lot, a future developer that wished to put something more substantial on the property would obviously not be able to do so. While normally it is not best practice to hope for a better deal down the road, in this case the lost revenue is so minimal the opportunity cost here is virtually nothing; 3) It would increase truck and other traffic, create runoff and other issues from cars being stored there, etc with, again, no real financial or other benefit to the town; 4) It would not create any meaningful number of jobs or employees that could provide employment to residents or at the very lease bring significant people from out of town to our town who would then frequent our shops in town. A business that did this, even if the tax revenue was not substantial could certainly be something to consider.
I would strongly urge the Planning Board to reject this application if there is a legal ground to do so. But furthermore, I would suggest that the Planning Board, Select Board and EDC look at our industrial parks to see if there are ways the town could prudently invest in them to make them more attractive to developers who would bring projects and eventually businesses to Holliston that would add real value to our town with a profile that the town would accept. It is telling, I think, that the only party interested in this particular piece of land so far is a company that wants to use it as parking lot/car storage. Is it because of the way the Lowland Park looks? Do we lack infrastructure that developers want and that we could invest in? These are amongst the many questions that should be considered and looked at to help drive up Holliston’s Commercial and Industrial tax base.
Please note that these views are my own person opinions and do not represent the opinions of the Finance Committee.
There’s no reason NOT to do it.
I have questions. Are the trucks/cars going to reach Adesa via Brook Street? via Western Avenue? Is the Sherborn Highway Dept. involved in this decision? Isn’t Rt. 16 East of Bertucci’s NOT a truck route?
I live on Brook Street in Holliston.