CHELMSFORD – A proposed condo development in the town’s historic center was rejected last week, with four out of six Planning Board members voting against the project, and two in favor.
As The Sun previously reported, a local resident and abutter to the proposed project, Deirdre Connelly, started a petition last month which garnered over 1,200 signatures, all against the project for its footprint and five-story height. Planning Board members also told The Sun that they have never received so much correspondence about one project, almost all of which was against it.
However, the new plan presented by the developers had reduced the building to four stories and 51 feet including a screen on top of the building. The zoning bylaw, however, caps buildings at 35 feet. The developers also requested over 20 waivers to existing zoning laws in the area.
Although the Planning Board has had multiple issues with the proposed development, ultimately, the most consistent complaint from residents and some board members has been the proposed building’s height and character fit with the town.
“I’m thinking it’s still too high. It’s way up there. It’s close to the houses behind it. I don’t like the height of it,” said Planning Board member Glenn Kohle. “The look of the building is fine, [but] I don’t think it matches the character of the center of town.”
During the Planning Board meeting, the members ran through each waiver request and discussed the ones they were most concerned about. Those that raised concerns included the frontage, the maximum number of units allowed, the height and the payment in lieu of affordable housing. The developers are offering $360,000 in payments in lieu of making 25% of the units affordable.
The payment in full would have been $750,000. The attorney for the project argued that, because the amount was staying the same even with the reduction of eight units, and because of other proposed benefits to the town, including donating land to the town, plus the tax benefits from the commercial buildings included as part of the renovation of the Odd Fellows historic building into a restaurant, the amount was fair. The developers also said they met with David Hedison, director of the Chelmsford Housing Authority, in determining that amount.
The Planning Board also expressed concern that the condo building might have been finished ahead of the renovation of two historic buildings in town: the Fiske House and the Odd Fellows building, which has been a key component of the negotiations. The developers argued that the use of a bond to tie together the completion of the three projects was standard practice for this type of project.
They also assured the Planning Board that interior renovations would certainly be completed after the exterior renovations to preserve the building because “with construction prices rising by the minute, and you can bet that’s gonna be even higher by the time we get a shovel in the ground, so I can tell you that if they’re gonna do the outside, the inside will follow because they will have to,” Melissa Robbins, the lawyer for the project, said.
By the end of the meeting, the Planning Board closed the public comment period, feeling that everything the public could have said against the project had already been said. The only Planning Board members to vote in favor of the project were Don Van Dyne and Mike Raisbeck. Mike Walsh, Nancy Araway, Hank Houle and Glenn Kohle voted against the project.
Deirdre Connelly, the abutter who created the original petition against the project, called this a “David and Goliath” story. “The townspeople really, I feel like, came together, and had pretty focused attention that this was not how they envisioned the town center,” she said. “I’m really happy that people spoke up and wrote letters and made phone calls and wrote emails and spoke at meetings to protect the historic center. And I’m also really grateful that the Planning Board listened to the people that were coming forward and expressing their opinion.”
Fred Faust, representing the owners of the property, offered the following statement via text message: “The owners of the property respect the Planning Board’s decision. Going forward, they will work cooperatively with the town of Chelmsford and respective decision makers.”
He continued, “There will be an effort now to have a dialogue with the town with the future of the site. There is no plan to resubmit the residential building to the rear as last proposed.”
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February 15, 2021 at 08:29PM
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Chelmsford Planning Board rejects condo development - Lowell Sun
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