Housing Headlines

FRAMINGHAM --- Zoning changes designed to re-inject some life into Framingham villages and the strip malls that have seen better times entered its next phase, with the Planning Board weighing in on the plans, which include encouraging mixed-use development, setting common design standards and fostering more lively public spaces in villages such as Nobscot. During the review, former planning board member Sue Bernstein voiced caution: “As I look at this zoning, to me, a lot of it is appropriate for Rte. 9, but not for Nobscot,” she said, “and I don’t know if people who have moved to the Nobscot area did so with the idea that they were going to see a very commercial district.”

PEMBROKE --- One selectman is promising a long fight over the long-debated 56-unit River Marsh housing proposal that has been in the works since 2005 and is now moving forward thanks to a court decision that the property is now "buildable" even though 30 of the 50 acres along the North River are considered wetlands. “The River Marsh people are in for a long battle,” said Selectman Arthur Boyle. “It was a lot that was unsatisfactory and un-buildable in 2005 and now all of a sudden the courts have decided that it is OK?"

SAUGUS --- Local builder Joseph Boccelli of Central Contractors is proposing to redevelop the historic Scott Mill site into 34 apartments, which if approved would be the first development built in the town's historic mixed-use overlay district approved by Town Meeting in 2014.

MELROSE --- Melrose is discussing changes to its affordable housing bylaws that would increase the amount of required affordable units from 10 to 15 percent for developments of eight units or more and eliminate the payment-in-lieu of option for developments of this size. In addition, town leaders are discussing changing the payment-in-lieu of affordable units from optional to by-right for developments of five to seven units, and increasing the payment requirement from 2 to 3 percent of sale price or market value.

WAYLAND --- The town's zoning board of appeals has approved developer Steven Zieff's application to build 60 mixed-income apartments with a Ch. 40B land use permit, but the developer says the approval to redevelop the former Mahoney's Gardden Center site comes with so many conditions that it's tantamount to trying to kill the project. Some of the conditions placed on Zieff relate to gallons of sewage per bedroom, setback distance, number of parking spots, and continued monitoring and testing of the septic system and Pine Brook.

FRAMINGHAM — After battling for three years to build a housing development of 70 to 90 units in northwest Framingham, developer Howard Fafard is now proposing to construct four single-family homes.