After much deliberation between residents, town officials, and the Planning Board, some changes are in the way regarding what was initially referred to as a potential Village Center Overlay District in the heart of Rochester.
Planning Board officials told a group of residents Tuesday evening that they would like to do some tweaking of the language of a previous draft for a proposed district in the Plumb Corner region of town center.
“The objectives weren’t clear as to what we were trying to create,” said Chairman Arnold Johnson, noting that they would scrap the original draft and potentially go forward with a new one that could rezone properties in the area that are currently strictly commercial and allow them for mixed-use, meaning that businesses and homes could exist within the same structures.
Johnson said that the new draft would create a district where they could help guide any future development that could take place, noting that there were two potential parcels of land where landowners have made known their intention for development.
He said that one of their goals with the mixed-use zoning would allow for small, “mom-and-pop” types of businesses while also allowing for a residential option at the same time. He did say that it could allow for some of the housing to be affordable, stressing that it wasn’t their intention to allow for large scale affordable housing, but rather just on a smaller, case-by-case level.
“We’re not out to craft anybody’s development,” he said. “We want to make sure we have some controls in place to make sure things are like what we have here [in the area].”
Several residents voiced their opinions on things ranging from the effects of affordable housing to concerns with future Planning Boards not sharing the same vision as the current board.
“Hopefully, we’ll lay a good foundation and blueprint for those that follow us,” said Johnson, noting that Rochester’s current percentage of affordable housing was just 0.2 percent, well shy of the state’s minimum of 10 percent, leaving them susceptible to Chapter 40b development, which under Massachusetts state law says that developers can supersede town bylaws and allow for large scale, affordable housing development. By attempting to provide some form of affordable housing, Rochester can help protect itself from such development.
Johnson and the board expressed their satisfaction with the well-attended meeting, noting that they want to continue to work with residents regarding their concerns on the drafting of a new proposal, which he said they’d take their time with in order to address any issues.
In other news, the Planning Board approved a bond reduction request from Edgewood Development for their 550-acre, 115-home Connet Woods development. The board unanimously approved the $536,000 reduction for phase two of future work on the project per the request of Tim Higgins, vice president of Edgewood Development.
Officials voiced concern over an issue with water flow at a certain location within the development, but determined that to be a separate issue from the bond reduction, and allowed them to go forward with their request.
“We should take it in good faith,” said Vice Chairman Gary Florindo. “They’ve remedied [other problems in the past]. Let’s just separate the two [issues] and do what we have to do. We’ll make a note for them to correct [any potential future issues with water flow].”
Higgins guaranteed that his company would do everything in its power to remedy any future water flow issues on the property.
By Nick Walecka
