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Megan Sullivan asked to see examples of densities required by the MBTA Communities Act. The MBTA Communities Act mandates us to zone 50 acres for multifamily housing at an as of right density of 15 units per acre. 

ONE EXAMPLE:  Old Village Square (Maple Street) off RTE 27 about a half mile South of RTE 109 is 42 single family homes that were built on almost 7 acres as of right in the RU zoning district that encompasses the downtown. When it was built the RU zone allowed an additional unit for every extra 6K sq. ft. of land. Old Village Square is at a density of 6 units per acre. The MBTA Communities Act might be nearly satisfied by such a development that contained 2-family homes of 1,500 sq. ft. each in place of the 3,000 sq. ft. single family homes that are there.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Prentis Place off North Street just North of the Pfaff Center is likely about the same density as Old Village Square.

To my eye, Old Village Square and Prentis Place both have tremendous curb appeal. Old Village Square because the garages are in the rear and from the street each unit looks distinctively different. Prentis Place because of its layout and landscaping. BTW, both are likely huge profit centers for the town, as neither requires much by way of municipal services. The last I knew Old Village Square had only one school child in its 42 units, meaning the town netted about $600,000 a year in property tax revenues over costs.

This is a depiction of what various densities might look like on an acre of land.

The following was a slide from the public forum on the MBTA Communities Act showing differing housing densities. 

At the Planning Department’s public forum on the MBTA Communities Act the apartment building on Jane’s Avenue at North Street was mentioned as having 15 units. Given the footprint of that building is on likely on less that half an acre, that might be an example of a density of about 30 units per acre. The building on North Street that houses the Butterfly Shop was said to contain 13 apartments, again, likely a really high unit per acre count.

Tilden Village and Medfield Gardens must both exceed 15 units per acre. I would think that Thurston Place off Brook Street and Glover Place off North Street might be at densities of 6-8 units per acre.

If one includes in our MBTA Communities Act required 50 acres sites such as where The Parc, Aura and the Shaw’s Plaza are located (none of which are likely to be redeveloped), one can craft a plan that will never result in 750 more units.

See also the examples via the link below of some handsome cluster developments:

DEV CASE STUDIES Res Cluster Development BrovitzCPD Feb 2022 (PDF)

 Feb 28, 2022

http://town.medfield.net/documentcenter/view/5804

BUSINESS ZONING DISTRICT Town of Medfield, MA Medfield Planning Board Consulting Team: Brovitz Community Planning & Design Dodson & Flinker Development Case Studies: Residential Cluster/Open Space, Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), and Pocket Neighborhoods DONOVAN

The MBTA Communities Act mandated requirements for us, per a Boston Globe map –

The Town of Medfield is asking the state to allow us to use the development at the former Medfield State Hospital site as part of our obligation under the MBTA Communities Act. Alternatively, the planning board has been figuring out where to rezone the town to comply with the mandate imposed on us by the MBTA Communities Act. The planning board seems to be focusing primarily on areas along Rte 109 and Rte 27. At a recent public forum, residents brainstormed plans. and my tablemates felt the rezoning should be distributed all around town rather than occur in the downtown or along those two routes.

The Select Board meets this morning at 10AM to vote to sign the solar photovoltaic PPA agreements with Solect Energy for both a Memorial parking lot canopy and a Blake Middle School rooftop. The PPA’s need to be signed before year end to qualify for better financial returns.

Text from Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler ten minutes ago said RTE 109 would re-open in ten minutes.

The Charles River has overtopped RTE 109 and RTE 109 has been closed.

Updates from Kristine Trierweiler, Town Administrator.

TEXT THIS MORNING:

This was reportedly this morning near South Street and Curve Street.

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EMAIL THIS AFTERNOON:

Chief Carrico can provide a more detailed report when he is no longer actively responding to calls, however, I wanted to give you a brief update. 

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Personally, I was blocked from using RTE 109 or 115 to get back from Millis late morning. Eventually got through on 109 and saw a 2-3′ diameter pine on the roadway.

Would have gone with last post (if I had it at the time) –

Given the fly over just now by four jets in tight formation, I expect the Army Navy game has begun.

WCVB’s long running and truly engaging news magazine, Chronicle, will reportedly report of both the Bellforge Arts Center and Park Street Books on its 12/7 show (unless breaking news pre-empts that schedule). Chronicle is captioning the show as CLUB MED, which will reportedly include pieces on the two places in Medfield, plus others from Medway, and Medford. Ben Simoneau posted on FB that Medfield get half the air time in the show.

Thursday, December 7: Club Med – WCVB-TV
Tonight we’re all about the Bay State “Meds” – Medford, Medway, and Medfield! We visit an Italian restaurant in Medford that’s all about family …