It has taken Sherman Briggs and Arnold Briggs years to get to this point – the first steps in the permitting process towards developing high-density residential units on their property in the vicinity of Spring Street and Mill Road, the only remaining Residence E zone on Marion zoning maps.
The property was slated for re-zoning and failed several times at Town Meeting over the years, until May 2018 when residents finally approved the land for multi-family cluster zoning to provide the town with units attractive to Marionites looking to downsize, a feature emphasized as a high-priority in the Town’s new Master Plan.
But when that article was written for the warrant and subsequently approved, the side and rear setbacks were adjusted from the former Limited Commercial Zone’s 10 feet to Residence E’s required 20 feet; Briggs’ construction design, however, only accommodated the former zoning’s 10 feet setbacks. This led Sherman Briggs to petition the Board of Selectmen to add an associated article to the October 2018 Special Town Meeting warrant to adjust the setbacks, but that article failed, which is what led Briggs and Briggs to the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals on February 21 for variances to reduce those side and rear setbacks in various points of the property to accommodate 27 market-rate townhouses, plus three affordable housing units on a separate side lot.
On behalf of Briggs and Briggs, developer William Curley explained, “Under Residence E … the density could be as great as 12 [units] an acre. We don’t want to do that – I want to do this project. I’ve laid it out; … it fits to the zoning that was our prior zoning. We conformed it to 10 feet.” But when it was converted, Curley said, “It got missed. It didn’t get picked up.” Five units are not affected by the new setbacks, but nine of the units are within 10 feet and another 10 are roughly 15 feet.
According to Curley, he has been working on this project since 2016 and has corresponded with the Planning Board these past three years. In a response to a letter from the ZBA seeking comment on the application, the Planning Board wrote that it “offers its continued support to the project and the application.”
The plan calls for three separate townhouse structures with units that are staggered as opposed to inline like row units.
“Keep it feeling like you have your own home, so it’s not your traditional row house of a dozen units at a time,” said Curley. “These will be very attracted to people in town, more so than a townhouse – bang-bang-bang all the way down.” He described the design as having “the flavor of a village,” and ZBA Chairman Marc LeBlanc commented that it would look much like Hathaway Pond in Rochester.
The board, absent three members, got acquainted with the project consisting of three townhouse structures with individual one-car garages and first-floor master bedrooms, which Curley say appeals to his target market – residents who want to remain in Marion, but want to downsize their homes while keeping the “nice-size community” feel, “Yet not too big,” said Curley.
“It’ll be a real nice project for the town,” he said.
Three affordable housing units are included, as per the Town Bylaw that requires all new housing developments designate 10 percent of the units to affordable housing, which are slated for a separate one-acre lot adjacent to the main development.
Curley said none of the properties abutting the setbacks in question would experience a negative impact from the development, but Greg Messina, representing Sippican Healthcare Center, shared his motto: “We value those setbacks.”
Messina’s concern is that residents of the new neighborhood would eventually complain about the inherent noise of a 24-hour assisted living complex. Planning Board Chairman Will Saltonstall, present that night for comment, told Messina the board would appreciate his participation throughout the Site Plan Review process.
Saltonstall told the ZBA, “[The Planning Board is] in support of this concept happening here, and we are hopeful that you will support it and allow the project to advance.”
The board continued the public hearing until March 7 so that the three absent members could ask questions and vote on the matter.
“I don’t see this taking very long,” said ZBA member Tad Wollenhaupt.
In other matters, the board continued the Variance request public hearing for Stephen and Jane McCarthy, 43 Dexter Road, for an elevated two-story single-family house within the Velocity zone. The consensus was that the board needed some evidence that the two existing foundations on the property were actually part of the original footprint and not just “something that poles were stuck into a tent hanging over it,” said ZBA Chairman Marc LeBlanc. That continuance was for March 7.
The next meeting of the Marion Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for March 7 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Zoning Board of Appeals
By Jean Perry