Office Park Re-Zoning Proposal
News Flash!
3/25/19: The Warrant Article for proposed rezoning of Office Park has been pulled by the Planning Board pending further review.
The intention is clearly to bring this back before the Town in the Fall at a Special Town Meeting (or some other future date).
Our goal is to keep you closely informed as to any upcoming information, meetings or hearings.
The potential for Zoning changes to allow warehouses as described below is still very high.
Also note that most of the Planning Board seats are contested in May's election. See our link here: Planning Board Election
Make sure you are on our mailing list so we can keep you informed! To be added click the Contact link above.
3/25/19: The Warrant Article for proposed rezoning of Office Park has been pulled by the Planning Board pending further review.
The intention is clearly to bring this back before the Town in the Fall at a Special Town Meeting (or some other future date).
Our goal is to keep you closely informed as to any upcoming information, meetings or hearings.
The potential for Zoning changes to allow warehouses as described below is still very high.
Also note that most of the Planning Board seats are contested in May's election. See our link here: Planning Board Election
Make sure you are on our mailing list so we can keep you informed! To be added click the Contact link above.
Click above to download
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4/25/19 Handout regarding Office Park Zoning changes
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The Lincoln Properties Presentation for 1414 Massachusetts Ave
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On the evening of 2/4/19 Lincoln Properties delivered the attached Power Point presentation of their proposal. This was the first the public had seen of the size and locations for the proposed High Cube Warehouses. Read the small print: "All renderings are for illustration purposes only. All plans are designed to be a representation of general orientation of the proposed projects and are not in any way designed to represent actual development or guarantee aspects of the projects or designs."
We need to consider these significant facts:
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The Proposed Flexible Overlay District
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The Flexible Overlay District includes the 1414 Massachusetts Ave properties comprising 218 acres, along with adjacent properties including the Hotel comprising 107 acres, plus two properties on the West side of Rte 495 comprising another 45 acres. The total overlay district subject to the revised zoning is approximately 371 acres.
Boxborough is considering the most significant development we have ever seen, yet there has been little if any discussion of the effects by the Planning Board. The rush to act now and think later just makes no sense. 
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Traffic
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The traffic ramifications of such a development are potentially far reaching and significant, but unstudied. The attached study indicates there are many types of warehouses. None of them are specifically addressed in the proposed Bylaw Amendments. A close reading of this study would indicate the potential for between 1,400 and 10,635 trips per day (Tractor Trailers, Small Trucks and Automobiles) based on 1.1M SF. That's 7 vehicles per minute at peak volume, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Double that for 2.7M SF.
We are not saying this will be the traffic impact. We are not saying it won't. We are saying we don't know what the impact will be. The Planning Board has no idea how many of those trips would be down Rte. 111. This traffic will affect Rt. 111 not only in Boxborough but also in West Acton and Kelly’s Corner. We must know the facts and their consequences before we vote.
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Current Traffic
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The only recent documents we have pertaining to Traffic and Boxborough is the attached Traffic Impact and Access Study. This is a good place to start. This shows current trip volumes of 7150 vehicles per day on Rt 111. In a worst case scenario this could be doubled, or more.
We need to know how many additional trips per day this development will bring to Rt 111 before we vote.
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Environmental Costs
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There are also environmental costs that must be understood: water, sound, air and light pollution.
The proposed development abuts a major conservation area and an important aquifer. The impacts will be a 24/7 concern. We are not qualified to assess these impacts but to date there has been little discussion as to how these issues will be resolved. It would be nice to have some idea of the environmental impacts before we vote.
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The Proposed Zoning Changes
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These are the proposed Bylaw Amendments drafted February 7, 2019
As currently drafted, there would be no Special Permit required for construction of Warehouses less than 200,000 SF gross floor area. We have not yet seen the latest draft since the 3/11/19 meeting. We have come to realize how important well-written Zoning Bylaws are both as a tool to encourage the type of development that would benefit our community; as well as a means to protect the community from ill-conceived projects that would be potentially be harmful our town and citizens. We share one concern: that the rush to approve significant changes to the Town’s zoning bylaws, without a full and complete study, will make it impossible for voters to make well-informed decisions by the time of the Annual Town Meeting in May.
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Boxborough 2030 - our plan
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The Boxborough2030 Master Plan provides an excellent opportunity for our town to
develop a long-term vision for the community and to create steps for implementing this vision. Key elements of a Master Plan vision developed in 2009 were confirmed and found to still be valid today:
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How to do it right?
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The articles below are just a few examples of Zoning "done right".
Determine a need, do the research, include the community, seek their input, spend the time to get the language right. Then bring it to the Town for a vote. There has been no such process for this project, just a rush to vote the changes. Why?
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