The town has scheduled a meeting with Gatehouse about its 40B proposal on West Street for next week. I will attend as the representative of the Board of Selectmen. I have suggested to Mike Sullivan that he arrange to have the state approved 40B consultant, Judy Barrette sit in with the town at that meeting.
Osler ”Pete” Peterson
Medfield Select Board member
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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Pete,
It is great that the town and developer are beginning to open a dialog, but can you elaborate at all on the format/intent of this meeting? Will this be a presentation by the developer? Will questions be answered from residents and abutters? Who will run the meeting? Etc…
Thanks for the update.
Mike Quinlan
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Carolyn and Mike,
It is not an open public meeting, but rather a working discussion between parties whose interests have clearly intersected. I am not arranging the meeting, but I expect that the town side will include the town administrators, the town counsel, me representing the Board of Selectmen, someone from the Planning Board, and I have asked to have our 40B consultant hired and joining us. I see it as one of our information gathering opportunity, and a chance to raise any and all options that may make the project better for the town.
Pete
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When and where is the meeting?
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Thanks for the update. I hope it is a productive meeting and I’m confident you will update us on the result.
Mike
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Mike and Carolyn,
I am just getting to work after the 7:30 AM selectmen meeting this morning. I learned this morning that the meeting with Gatehouse has not yet been firmed up, as I had thought. Some of the proposed meeting dates are after the 3/26 town election, so I may no longer be a selectman at the time, and even if I am re-elected, Ann will have succeed to being the chair and so she may attend that meeting instead. I asked about whether Judy Barrette had been lined up to attend as the town’s 40B consultant, and Mike said that she has not, but that he would follow up on arranging for that.
Pete
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Hi Pete,
If and when this meeting takes place, and hopefully a public meeting to follow, I would expect that representatives of the Town will request Gatehouse to be considerate to the existing neighbors on West Street. For example, judging by pictures that were posted on the Medfield Patch it appears that there will be parking lots directly along West St facing the abutters. This presents an opportunity for considerable noise and light pollution that does not currently exist after dark. The parking areas should be toward the rear of the facility and not in the neighbors face. Additionally, there should remain a substantial landscaped barrier between the development and the abutters on West St to minimize any ill effects that will result from such a large development.
Please let us know when the public meeting allowing interaction with Gatehouse is scheduled.
Good luck with your re-election efforts.
Paul
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Paul,
The sorts of things that you raise are all the sorts of topics that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield will address if and when any application for a comprehensive permit is filed and the ZBA holds their hearings. For example, when I sat of the ZBA hearing on the 40B project off of Dale Street at the RR tracks (I think it was called The Village at Medfield and/or the Turtle Brook Condos), I was asking for landscaping to hide and/or shield the project from the neighbors across the street, but the neighbors thought that created too much of a wall effect and did not want it, so they got what they wanted.
Those ZBA hearings will be publicized by both letters to abutters and legal notices in the Medfield Press.
It now seems that I may not be part of any private meetings with Gatehouse if they do not occur this week, as either (1) I am not re-elected on 3/26 or if I am, (2) Ann will be the chair and will attend.
Pete
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Hi Pete,
Thank you for your comments.
I understand what you are saying however, I do not think we can compare the project on Dale St with the proposed project on West St. Turtle Brook is a set of nicely designed and laid out condominium units that are privately owned, therefore the property owners are more likely to take care of their investment. And Turtle Brook was built for individuals that are 55 yrs old or older. The impact to the neighbors and the town was minimal, if any at all.
Unlike Turtle Brook, the proposed project on West St will be rental units which in many cases you will find that the occupants of rental units do not always have the same degree of care or concern for the property that they inhabit or for property that surrounds them since they do not have an ownership investment. Additionally, the scope of the project is significantly larger than any other the town has seen. The impact on the neighbors and the town resulting from this type of development is significantly different than Turtle Brook or what was originally planned and approved for the West St. site a few years ago.
It is my hope that the residents, along with the town representatives, will have the opportunity to voice their concerns to Gatehouse directly, via the hearings organized by the ZBA. It is also my hope that the residents are not stymied at these meeting as they were at the 40B meeting held at the Middle School in February where I left the meeting with the feeling that our Town Council was working for Gatehouse and not the Town of Medfield.
Thanks for listening,
Paul Loiacono
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Paul,Thanks for your comments. I agree with you about the differences between Turtle Brook and the Gatehouse project. I was only trying to highlight that I am betting that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Medfield will listen to the neighbors at the hearings that will be held, just as I did when I was running that ZBA hearing on the Turtle Brook development. Best,PeteOsler L. Peterson – AttorneyPeterson | Law580 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02458-141666 North Street, PO Box 358, Medfield, MA 02052osler.peterson@oslerpeterson.comhttp://mysite.verizon.net/osler.peterson/617.969.1501direct617.969.1500 508.359.9190 m617.663.6008 f
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