affordable-housing | Medfield02052's Blog

November 13, 2024
Sarah Raposa, AICP
Planning Director – Town of Mansfield, MA
Re: 2024 APA-MA Awards
Dear Sarah,
Congratulations! The American Planning Association – Massachusetts Chapter (APA-MA) Awards Committee has selected the Town of Medfield to receive the 2024 Community of the Year Award. Thank you for your efforts on this most worthwhile submittal!
This award will be formally presented at the APA-MA Annual Awards & Holiday Luncheon on Friday December 13, 2024, from 12:00 pm-2:00 pm at the Publick House, Sturbridge. As part of this award designation, the APA-MA Chapter is providing two complimentary admissions to the award luncheon. Please register individually (use the Awardee/Guest category) by December 4th as this event is always at capacity.
Again, congratulations and I look forward to seeing you on December 13th.
Sincerely,
Alison LeFlore
Alison LeFlore, AICP
APA-MA President
cc: 2024 APA-MA Awards Committee

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This was the Town of Medfield submittal:

Medfield State Hospital (MSH): A Decade of Acquisition, Planning, Disposition, and Redevelopment

● Summary of the project’s or planner’s qualification (one-page maximum).
The Town of Medfield has exhibited relentless and exemplary community planning techniques since acquiring the former Medfield State Hospital property from the Commonwealth in 2014, which closed the facility in 2003. With the purchase of MSH, the Town accepted the challenge of re-purposing this scenic, historic National Register-listed former state hospital grounds overlooking the Charles River.

The Town spent four years working on the reuse master plan; an arduous endeavor which is truly paying off! The MSH Strategic Reuse Master Plan was recognized by MA APA (in 2018) and APA STAR (in 2019) because it represented the consensus vision for future land use at the state hospital with an active community core, including the campus chapel and nearby buildings to be converted into an arts and culture center with multi-family residential, senior housing, and commercial uses. The plan calls for preserving public access and open space, preservation of as many of the historic buildings as is feasible, programming and uses that will draw town residents to the site, and limited development of new structures so as not to impact the overall character of the site and the town.

Medfield’s dedication to the implementation of the Plan has been demonstrated in the following ways: passage of the enabling zoning bylaws in 2019, an informal request for information process informing the future town solicitation which received two responses; one highlighting the value of good planning while not offering much money and one offering a lot of money for the demolition of the historic buildings. In deliberating the preferred response and ultimately overwhelmingly supporting the master plan-focused response, community leaders and voters signified a dedication to the values they spent years articulating.

The Town and Trinity Financial continue to work as partners through the two-phased permitting process as having certain approvals assisted the developer in securing financing and other funding to move towards the actual purchase of the property and construction (anticipated to begin in 2025).

● Explanation demonstrating how the project or planner meets the awards criteria as detailed above (three-page maximum).
The overall goal is to develop a comprehensive and coordinated vision for the sustainable redevelopment and reuse of the Medfield State Hospital. The Strategic Reuse Master Plan for Medfield State Hospital was developed to synthesize Medfield’s aspirations and to create a framework to guide future development. The Town sought to optimize three key priorities:

Maintain and enhance the character and values of the Town of Medfield and its residents, including the site’s scenic and natural features, spaces for passive and active recreation, and the site’s cultural, historic, agricultural and architectural significance.
Address Town housing needs, which may include smaller-footprint housing that is affordable for Medfield residents who are downsizing and would like to stay in Medfield, or any housing that brings more diversity into Medfield’s housing stock, in alignment with the Town’s Housing Production Plan.
Achieve reasonable economic and financial impacts on Medfield residents and Town services, assuring that the master plan is in the Town’s economic best interests.

Once completed and generally accepted, the Town pivoted from a planning committee to the MSH Development Committee (MSHDC or DC) with the sole purpose of disposing of the MSH property. The Committee worked with the former MHSMPC, Select Board, and Planning Board to pass the enabling zoning at a special town meeting in the fall of 2019. Simultaneously, the DC drafted a request for information and worked with the five respondents on evaluating the property for a formal RFP process which informed STM voters on the likelihood of a future viable project.
The Town of Medfield released a Request for Proposals for the Medfield State Hospital on April 5, 2021. The Request for Proposals was developed by the Medfield State Hospital Development Committee prior to submission to the Medfield Board of Selectmen. The Town received two proposals, which represented bookends of potential development scenarios. One consisted of demolition and construction of new apartment buildings and the other proposed historic preservation and adherence to the objectives outlined in the master plan. Interviews with both developers were recorded and broadcast via YouTube. The two proposals were evaluated by the Medfield State Hospital Development Committee.
On November 2, 2021, the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to designate the proposal submitted by Trinity Financial of Boston, MA as the most advantageous proposal. The Board of Selectmen further authorized the MSHDC to negotiate a provisional development agreement with Trinity Financial for its review.
On March 22, 20222, the Board of Selectmen voted to name an affiliate of Trinity Financial as the designated developer of the Medfield State Hospital and enter into a Provisional Designation Agreement with Trinity. This designation, which was provisional, kicked off a period of additional due diligence for both parties ahead of a Special Town Meeting in June 2022, when voters considered whether to approve a proposed sale of portions of the hospital campus. During this period of due diligence, Trinity had access to the Medfield State Hospital buildings and grounds for continued evaluation of existing conditions, to conduct environmental assessments and other studies, and to further develop its proposal for the campus. Simultaneously, the MSHDC initiated its next phase of evaluation of the proposal, including an updated analysis of impacts and benefits to the Medfield community. Trinity’s proposal is intended to fund all of the project’s infrastructure costs as part of the construction and according to Trinity’s projections is expected to generate over $700,000 per year in net tax revenues to the Town once it is complete.
The special town meeting (STM) on June 21, 2022 went quickly, and resulted in a virtually unanimous vote to proceed with the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) with Trinity Financial to build 334 units of rental apartments (25% affordable) in the existing buildings at the former Medfield State Hospital site. The Board of Selectmen and Trinity signed the LDA after the meeting and Trinity began preparing for its permitting process.

● Representation:
✔ Puts MSH on the tax rolls for the first time
o Trinity estimate is ~$700,000 annually (net)
o Town will recover more than the $4.5 million spent to date
o No cash outlay by the Town/taxpayers
✔ Resolves environmental and physical condition of buildings at no cost to Town – and removes liability
✔ Adds housing consistent with Town objectives
o Puts Town over 40B threshold for foreseeable future
✔ Leaves open space open and in Town control
✔ Complementary with proposed Cultural Arts Center
o Contributions toward construction and programming
o Lend development expertise
✔ Generally consistent with 2018 Master Plan
o Specifically attempting to meet Town’s stated goals
✔ Intended to comply with zoning adopted by Special Town Meeting in 2019 by more than 2/3 vote.
o Campus setting
o Historic preservation; building design and massing
o Infrastructure
o Landscaping and improved streetscape

● How has the nominee promoted the cause and advanced the merits of planning?
Nothing exemplifies the merits of planning more than a near-unanimous approval of approximately 700 voters at an open town meeting. Back in 2014, as Medfield’s residents contemplated the question of whether they wanted to acquire the Medfield State Hospital property from the state, the rallying cry in favor of the town buying the property was that the purchase would allow the town to “control its own destiny.”

As evidenced by the MSH Master Planning Committee spending four years soliciting opinions, ideas, and feedback from town residents on what they would like to see the town do with the state hospital property; the results of that comprehensive effort were documented in the award-winning Medfield State Hospital Strategic Reuse Master Plan. At the 2019 Special Town Meeting, the town confirmed its support for the master plan by voting to adopt special zoning requirements to ensure that redevelopment would be consistent with the intentions of the master plan. The town established the MSH Development Committee to move forward with the process of redevelopment per the approved zoning requirements. The committee spent its first year vetting the hospital master plan and zoning requirements with the real estate development community to confirm that they reflected what Medfield’s residents wanted and presented an economically viable opportunity for real estate developers. The result of that investigation confirmed that there was an economically viable opportunity from the development community’s perspective.

With that affirmation in hand. The Development Committee spent two years (with welcome financial help and general advice from the state through Mass Development) putting together a responsibly structured, disciplined, and open process for identifying potential qualified developers; soliciting and evaluating developer proposals; and negotiating a contract with the selected developer, Trinity Acquisitions LLC, to carry out a redevelopment project on the property. Throughout this process, Medfield’s residents have had continuing opportunities to review progress and provide feedback. While it is impossible to give everybody everything they want, town residents recognize the efforts the MSH Development Committee, along with the MSH Master Planning Committee that preceded it, have made to satisfy as many people in town as possible during this process. These committees have done their best to enable the town of Medfield to “control its own destiny.”

Medfield State Hospital has been an integral factor defining the identity and character of Medfield since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Medfield’s caring town culture largely resulted from the town’s awareness of, and involvement with, the residents of the state hospital over the years it was operating. But that alone doesn’t account for the full significance of the state hospital to the town. Medfield’s agricultural roots can be found at the state hospital, along with its connections to the arts. The redevelopment of the hospital campus, proposed by Trinity, offers the opportunity to maintain connections with all of that by updating those purposes to reflect the needs and uses of Medfield today. Trinity’s proposed project enables us to repurpose the historic resource for new uses that link to past uses. The destiny chosen for Medfield reflects the preferences expressed over the several years since acquiring the hospital property from the state.

● Document support of the project, plan or planner through materials related to public outreach or letter(s) of recommendation.
The public participation and engagement undertaken in the development of the MSH Strategic Reuse Master Plan involved all members of the Medfield community – town government activists, high school students, fiscal hawks, preservationists, cultural advocates, recreation and sports advocates, senior citizens, new residents and old-timers, and residents from all geographic areas of Medfield. The public participation in the MSH Strategic Reuse Master Plan was significantly more robust than most state hospital reuse initiatives.

Thousands of people were involved, using a wide range of engagement formats, from social media, its website, surveys, walking tours, meetings, community workshops, open houses, and participation in the annual Medfield Day events. During the three-and-a-half-year planning period, the MSHMPC hosted an informational website (www.mshvision.net, subsequently migrated to the Town’s website), the primary information portal for all things Medfield State Hospital.

The MSHDC implemented the following suite of public engagement techniques in during the solicitation and disposition process: dedicated webpage containing information on and links to the 6 public forums with presentations; due diligence and peer reviews covering: fiscal impact analysis, Traffic Report, Market Study, Utilities & Infrastructure, Environmental Assessment, Hazardous Materials Report, Regulatory Compliance, and Peregrine Group’s review of financial documentation related to Trinity Financial; 11 MSH Redevelopment Newsletters focusing on The Disposition Process, Selling & Keeping, Historic Preservation, Trinity’s Proposal, MSH Q&A, Due Diligence Reports, Save the Date & More Q&A, Trinity Due Diligence Q&A, Water & Sewer, Traffic, Schools, and Fiscal Impact, A Letter from the Chair of our Board of Selectmen; Planning Board approval process phase I for site plan approval and inclusionary zoning special permit (2023), Planning Board approval process phase II for stormwater permitting, submittal of final site plan documents (landscaping, lighting, master signage, etc), and subdivision of land (anticipated 2024-2025)

● 1-3 photos (.jpg format) representative of the project or plan, with an individual file size of no more than 1 Megabytes.

	Lester Cohen on Town’s Buildings Require…
	Select Board member… on Black Out at Budget Works…
	Lester Cohen on Black Out at Budget Works…
	The Sullivans on Thank you Linda Thompson!
	cherryblossomcasuall… on Roundabouts both safer & b…

Tag Archives: affordable-housing

APA awards Medfield its “2024 Community of the Year Award” for our MSH project

Medfield State Hospital (MSH): A Decade of Acquisition, Planning, Disposition, and Redevelopment

Osler ”Pete” Peterson

Email Subscription

Medfield

Search “Medfield02052”

Archives

Categories

Recent Comments