By K.B. Sherman, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – Only 166 voters attended the Shrewsbury Special Town Meeting (STM) Sept. 30, although approximately another 55 interested people from out of town also attended. The meeting had been requested by proponents of a mixed-use development, “The Grove,” which would be located at the site of a former warehouse on Maple Avenue. By night’s end, requested zoning changes had been approved.
At the Board of Selectmen’s meeting Aug. 26, the board had heard from Samuel Adams, of “Spagtacular, LLC,” regarding his proposal to create a mixed-use development that would be known as “The Grove at Shrewsbury.” The project would be located at the site of the former Chelmsford Ginger Ale bottling warehouse located on Route 9, Maple, and Oak streets. The approximately 27 acres would be the site of a self-contained neighborhood of shops, commercial buildings, 140 residential units in a separate three-story building, and a movie theater, all to be built in five phases. The builder at that time sought a special town meeting to change the land’s zoning from residential to commercial/business and to amend the Lakeway Overlay Business District.
At the Sept. 30 TM, Adams relayed a brief summary of what his group hoped to accomplish. He was assisted by Michael Dryden, project manager, from Waterman Designs of Westborough. Restating what had been presented to the selectmen Aug. 26, the men explained that the site would be a mix of residential and commercial zones, much of which was also under the Lakeway Overlay Business District (http://thelakeway.org/). Under the current conceptual plan, the 27 acres would contain approximately 430,000 square feet of development.
Another member of the team then described “The Grove” as a “vibrant, retail, campus-like environmentally-friendly project” with “cascading layers” of buildings to encourage different activities including shopping, dining, movie-going, and more for “strolling shoppers,” employing a combination of different local building materials. The site would offer a “retail-friendly layout employing conservation-friendly strategies.” It was noted that using the current conceptual plan, approximately 2,000 parking spaces would be built.
Over a period of two-and-a-half hours, 29 people rose to be heard.
The first two speakers were opponents: Lee Mancini, 110 Oak St. and Patricia Lake, 108 Oak St. Mancini cited many potential problems such as the change to the character of the neighborhood; the fact that including resident units in the project will not protect the town from possible 40B projects; school overcrowding from the many new residents; that creating 27 new acres of businesses will worsen traffic; and the fact that Adams has actually submitted four different conceptual plans with nothing having been decided regarding what he actually will build.
Lake said that the area has historic importance which this project would destroy; that three nearby schools would face a vast influx of new students and would worsen already bad traffic; and that any approval should be conditional with the town taking stock of each phase before approving the next.
Town Manager Daniel Morgado noted that zoning cannot be changed based upon future building critiques.
Twenty-seven voters then took turns asking questions and making suggestions. These included the topics of impact to traffic; 40B (affordable housing) possibilities; increased tax revenue vs. increased costs to town; potential impact to water and sewer use; potential loss of value to potential residential units over time; builder reputation; and the timetable for project completion.
The Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and Planning Board all recommended the zoning changes be approved. In the end, both articles passed by more than the 2/3 vote required.