The Town of Medfield’s Board of Health was sued 10/30/26 in Norfolk Superior Court by the applicant of the proposed 40B development at 86 Plain Street project that was recently denied by the Board of Health. The above image is copied from a developer’s website.
The complaint is available here –
Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, Development, health
(6) The Town shall restrict development on Parcel B to approximately 12 acres
of Parcel B. Prior to disposition or redevelopment of any portion of Parcel B
and in any event no later than two (2) years after the conveyance of Parcel B
to the Town, the Town shall place an Agricultural Preservation Restriction
upon the remainder of Parcel B, containing approximately 27.877 acres, in
accordance with the provisions of the letter dated December 16, 2008 from
the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, a copy of which is
attached to this Agreement as Exhibit J.
(7) On or before the date which is one (1) year after the conveyance of Parcel A
and Parcel B to the Town, the Town shall place an Agricultural Preservation
Restriction upon the property known as the “Holmquist Property” in
accordance with the provisions of said letter from the Massachusetts
Department of Agricultural Resources .
(B) Survival/Enforcement. . . . in the
event that the Town does not establish the Agricultural Preservation Restriction on
Parcel B or the “Holmquist Property” in accordance with clause (A)(6) and (7),
respectively, above or require a purchaser of Parcel B or the “Holmquist Property” to
do the same, the Commonwealth may cause title to Parcel B to revert to the
Commonwealth by (i) giving written notice to the Town which notice shall state that if
the Town does not establish said Agricultural Preservation Restriction within ninety (90)
days of said notice, the Commonwealth may record with the Norfolk Registry of Deeds
a notice stating that title to Parcel B has reverted to the Commonwealth. Upon
satisfaction by the Town of the Town’s Surviving Covenants set forth in Section 6(A)(6)
NB – 1. No Obligation to Designate the 12 Acres & 2. No Fear of Reverter If Not Designated Due to 90 Day Notice & Opportunity to Cure – i.e – we would designate the 12 acres during the 90 days provided to cure after getting any notice.
Comments Off on What the 2013 MSH LDA Says Re the 12 Acres on Parcel B
Posted in Development, Information, Medfield State Hospital, State, Town Meeting
Comments Off on Town, Trinity, & MSH Get Additional $4.5m. State Grant
January 9, 2026 in Development, Medfield State Hospital, State
Monday at the annual town meeting (ATM) Steve Dragotakes asked about what town owned land was currently for sale, and Select Board chair Murby mentioned the land at the former Medfield State Hospital site known as Parcel B which is South of Hospital Road where a basketball facility was recently proposed – shown as The South Field on the above plan.
For me the primary town property I would like to see monetized first is not that Parcel B which are beautiful open fields and woods, but rather the land that the Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee called The Arboretum. The Arboretum is about 12 acres that contains the former employee homes around the Stonegate entrance (the entrance nearest the downtown).
I suggest the town should first seek to sell The Arboretum after the Trinity Financial project is built, as then The Arboretum land will substantially increase in value. In the interim, I would suggest that the town change the zoning on that land from the sparse density the Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee placed on it, so as to permit more dense development and add more to its sale value.
We all want to preserve open space, but to me the open space I treasure at the former Medfield State Hospital site are the fields surrounding the already built areas, and I am not bothered by building greater density in the already built areas.
I see Old Village Square off of RTE 27 as a model for the density and curb appeal of what could go in The Arboretum. Old Village Square nets the town a large net profit of real estate taxes over municipal costs each year – maybe $600,000/year. The Arboretum developed in a similar manner could add maybe $1,000,000/year to our tax base without much town cost. My path to lowering our high residential real estate taxes is more via building housing that has minimal municipal costs, instead of looking to more business, commercial or industrial development – which few developers seem to want to locate in Medfield.
Per the following email just received, a 40B application has been filed for a 24 unit development at 86 Plain Street –
Dear Boards and Staff Members,
As is required by G.L. c.40B §21, and 760 CMR 56.05(3), I am hereby sending notice of a new Comprehensive Permit Application the Zoning Board received on February 28, 2025. 86 Plain Street, LLC and Benjamin Virga (the Applicant) have proposed to build twenty-four (24)
homeownership units on approximately 14.86 acres of land located at 86 Plain Street. Six of these units will be affordable to those making 80% or less of the AMI.
The Application materials can be found here.
The hearing will be scheduled for April 2, 2024, at 6 pm, most likely in person. The remote hearing provision is set to expire at the end or March, and it may or may not be extended by the time I need to post the legal ad. The most likely scenario here is an in-person meeting. I’ll notify you when we’ve agreed on a space.
The agenda will be posted on the website soon.
Since the ZBA acts in place of municipal boards whose local regulations would normally apply, obtaining comments from you is critical for the ZBA to reach an informed decision and craft appropriate conditions of approval. The following boards, commissions, and departments are receiving a copy of the comprehensive permit application and are asked to attend the public hearing in addition to providing written comments (as outlined on Page 18 of the Ch 40B Handbook):
Please note the attached list of waivers and let me know if these are not acceptable to you and your Board/Department. If we do not hear from you, the ZBA has the authority to grant any and all waivers they consider reasonable. The list of waivers can be found here. Finn, please note that many of these waiver requests are wetlands related— please flag this with the Commission accordingly.
Please review the attached application and plans and provide written comments to us before the hearing on April 2nd. I strongly encourage you to attend the hearing if you have any comments/feedback for the Zoning Board.
Thank you, everyone!
Maria De La Fuente
Medfield Director of Land Use and Planning
459 Main Street
Medfield, MA 02052
(508) 906-3027
mdelafuente@medfield.net
Posted in Development, Zoning
Comments Off on ONYX presentation hand out as a PDF
Posted in Bellforge Arts Center, Buildings, Development, Medfield Park & Recreation Commission, Medfield State Hospital, Select Board matters
Last night ONYX Partners Ltd. (Anton Melchionda of Dover) presented the following proposal to a joint meeting of the Select Board, Warrant Committee, and Medfield Park & Recreation Commission.
Points from my notes:
My initial thoughts:
A large Basketball facility is proposed for town owned land in the area South of Hospital Road at the former Medfield State Hospital, and the proponent will explain his proposal this evening to a joint meeting of the Select Board, Warrant Committee, and Medfield Park & Recreation Commission this evening at 6PM. The Zoom link to that meeting is below.
I suspect the facility is being proposed for the area shown as the South field in the plan below, but note that is not the proponent’s plan. Per the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) between the state and the town when the town bought the Medfield State Hospital property, the town is permitted to develop only 12 acres of the almost 40 acres South of Hospital Road, because they are prime agricultural soils. The town swapped a restriction on 12 acres of the Holmquist land to be able to use those 12 acres. Per the LDA, the town also has to pay half of whatever it receives for the land to the state.
This is a link to my prior post about my call with Anton about his proposal.
TOWN OF MEDFIELD
MEETING
NOTICE
Posted in accordance with the provisions of M.G.L. c. 30A, §§18-25
This meeting will be held in a hybrid format. The Select Board will attend in person and
members of the public may attend in person. In addition, members of the public who wish to
participate via Zoom may do so by joining by one of the following options:
Comments Off on Basketball Facility at MSH Site – presentation at 6pm tonight
Posted in Buildings, Development, Medfield State Hospital, Select Board matters
The town has been approached by Anton Melchionda of Dover about building a basketball facility on the town owned land at the part of the former Medfield State Hospital site that is South of Hospital Road and to the Northwest of McCarthy Park – at the left side in the aerial view above. He is scheduled to present his proposal at a February 25 Select Board meeting, but I thought people would want to know more about the proposal now where it came up at last night’s Select Board meeting in relationship both to its potential to increase the traffic on Hospital Road and the annual town meeting (ATM) warrant article place holder created for it.
Anton has met with Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler and all three Select Board members. I am sharing below my notes of my telephone call with him.
Per the town’s agreement with the state when the town purchased the former MSH property, the town may develop up to 12 acres of its 38 acres of land South of Hospital Road. Plus we have to pay half of any sales price we receive to the state.
My current thoughts:
(1) it would have to be a hugely advantageous project to the town to interest me, as I am currently in no rush to develop the land. I think that land will only gain a lot of value once the Trinity project is built. NB that the town also retains the 12 acre Arboretum parcel at the front of the former MSH site, which could be exceedingly valuable if the town adjusted the zoning;
(2) if the project assisted the Medfield Park & Recreation Commission with their programs, that would be important to me. I am currently unclear how much value the proposal would provide to MPRC, as the details are lacking. I did sense that MPRC would get time to use the facility when the developer’s groups are not using it, but the problem with that is that everyone wants to use the facility at the same time, namely, when the kids are not in school.
(3) any buildings should be in the back field that hugs the railroad tracks (at the bottom left in the aerial view above) so as to be as far from Hospital Road and the view scape from Hospital Road as possible.
(4) nothing should be built on the sledding hill or near Hospital Road.
==========================================
Telephone call from Anton Melchionda
December 17, 2024 (1:03pm)
Former Town Planner, Sarah Raposa, had put the Medfield State Hospital project in for the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association’s 2024 Community of the Year Award for our work on the reuse and development of the former Medfield State Hospital site. Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler and Sarah traveled to Sturbridge this week to pick up the award.
The Medfield State Hospital and Steve Nolan were both honored a few years ago for the Medfield State Hospital project as well, the posting about which can be found by searching this blog. From memory Steve Nolan was the APA Massachusetts Chapter Volunteer of the Year at that time for his work chairing the Medfield State Hospital reuse committee.
Photo by Kristine Trierweiler.
Posted in Development, Medfield State Hospital, Planning
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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