|
Land Use Study Committee |
Voices
for Vision Civic Engagement
Weston Nurseries Sale
and East Hopkinton Master Plan
As Hopkinton faces one of its most challenging decisions regarding the Weston Nurseries Land Sale and the acceptance of a Master Plan for East Hopkinton, it is important for its citizens to be informed and current about the possibilities, their impacts, and trade-offs. Therefore, the Voices for Vision Civic Engagement committee, along with representatives from the Planning Board and Land Use Study Committee, has put in place a series of opportunities for you not only to learn about what is happening, but also to discuss your values and choices with others, so that we, as a community, will be able to make the best possible choices concerning our town.
Beginning
with the following article on the history of the work done by the Land Use
Study Committee on the Weston Nurseries Land Sale and the East Hopkinton
Master Plan up until the point where Hopkinton’s citizens vote on their
choices, we want it to be clear that the intention is to provide up-to-date
information and education, and to encourage openness to multiple viewpoints,
curiosity about different possibilities, and dialogue, not debate.
The
“pieces” of the process will include:
- A series of articles in
the local media starting with the history and followed by additional
articles that will outline different scenarios for the area, and an
analysis of some of the key issues, including impact and trade-offs.
- An up-to-date website
link where all the information will be made available
- A Kick-Off presentation
(February 1st - 7 p.m. at the Hopkinton Fire Station) by Sasaki
Associates, Inc. the land use planners hired by the town, to create the
East Hopkinton Master Plan.
- A series of 10-12
“House Parties” in different neighborhoods in Hopkinton, where small
groups can gather to hear a presentation, ask questions, and provide
input.
- A Forum for up to 150
citizens to come together for a more in-depth discussion and a fuller sharing of ideas.
We invite you to participate in any or all of the above and look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Voices
for Vision Civic Engagement Committee
Hopkinton Land Use Study
Committee
Work of the Committee on
The Weston Nurseries
Land Sale and East Hopkinton Master Plan
February 2005 –
January 2007
THE WESTON NURSERIES LAND SALE: HISTORY AND EARLY
WORK
In
February 2005, when the Weston Nurseries land sale first became a “public
offering”, the Hopkinton Board of Selectmen established the Land Use Study
Committee (LUSC) to study the matter and make recommendations on how the Town
could best respond to the opportunity – or threat – presented by the
proposed sale. Given that Weston
Nurseries represents 5% of the total land area in Hopkinton, and that the Town
has a right of first refusal to purchase the land if it is sold due to the
nursery's agricultural use tax exemption (61A), the Selectmen reasoned that it
was of paramount importance to position the Town to affect a positive outcome
from a sale of the Weston Nurseries land.
The LUSC immediately adopted two overarching objectives for its work: 1) to promote development that has a revenue positive outcome and 2) to protect and enhance the quality of life in Hopkinton.
The
eleven members of the committee include the Chair of Board of Selectmen; the
Chair of the Appropriations Committee; a member of the Planning Board; a
member of the Conservation Commission; Chair of the Board of Health; Chair of
the School Committee; Chair of the Economic Development Commission; two
residents of East Hopkinton and two members at large. In addition, the Town
Planning Director, Town Counsel, and Special Bankruptcy Counsel have provided
assistance and guidance to the group.
In addition to exploring different scenarios for Weston Nurseries, the LUSC commissioned Community Opportunities Group, Inc. in May 2005 to determine the development potential of the Weston property and its potential fiscal impacts from three perspectives:
§
Development
under existing zoning
§
Planned
development with new zoning
§
No
development: Town purchases and preserves the land as open space
This
study showed that the Town's zoning, as written, would prevent development of
at least half of the property due to site limitations, topography, wetlands
and the Town’s Open Space Landscape Preservation By-Law. As a result, at a
$30 million purchase
price
for the land, development under existing zoning may well be un-economic – a
major reason the land has not yet sold.[1]
The study also indicated that the underlying zoning would produce the kind of
development of single-family detached homes, which would be
“revenue-negative” on the order of $2 million annually. However, if the
Town promoted a “planned” development and rewrote the zoning to allow a
mix of single-family homes, town homes, commercial space, and recreation and
municipal usage facilities, development could be revenue-positive.
The
Community Opportunities Group study also found that purchasing and holding the
Weston property as open space could cost taxpayers of Hopkinton $2 million to
$3 million per year in debt and interest on the purchase price, or $600 to
$700 on average for each household. These figures are conservative, as they do
not account for the tax revenue the Town would lose as a result of town
ownership, the lost “opportunity” of additional revenue from other
development or the cost of maintaining open space. On the other hand, the Town
would experience a number of positive benefits, including a lack of increased
demand for police, fire, or school services and the preservation of the land
in its present undeveloped state.
DECEMBER 2005: DETERMINING FURTHER OPTIONS
As 2005 drew to a close without any changes in the situation, the committee decided there was no reason not to move forward as a community with a plan not only for Weston, but also for the other large parcels of unprotected open space that existed in East Hopkinton. The LUSC, working with the Planning Board, put out a Request for Proposals from private planning firms and secured Town Meeting approval to create a new East Hopkinton Master Plan that would provide a blue-print for the ultimate development – or conservation – of over 4,000 acres, about 25 % of the Town.
As
a result, the Planning Board hired Sasaki Associates, Inc, a nationally known
land use planning firm from Watertown, Massachusetts, to work with the Town to
develop a modern vision and plan for East Hopkinton. While the Weston
Nurseries property is an important focus of the study, by including the rest
of East Hopkinton in the study the LUSC can address the demographic,
aesthetic, infrastructure and circulatory challenges facing Hopkinton in a
holistic and long-term manner.
In
addition to Sasaki, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, acting through a
Smart Growth Technical Assistance Grant from the Executive Office of
Environmental Affairs, advanced the Town's thinking about East Hopkinton in
early 2006 by undertaking a study of development options for the entire Weston
Nurseries property. The study included input from the towns of Southborough
and Ashland as well as Hopkinton via public forums, study of each town’s
master plan and other relevant planning documents, and working committee
input. MAPC summarized its work in a June 2006 report, which suggested three
“illustrative concepts” for development:
§
Build-out
under existing zoning
§
Open
Space preservation supported (paid for) by development.
§
Smart
Growth development under the new 40R state land use policy
Each
of their concepts recommends significant development of housing units, and two
of the scenarios recommend constructing commercial or office space. All three
scenarios protect large amounts of open space, and recommendations range from
protecting 500 acres to 780 acres. The report further analyzes water use and
wastewater management issues, traffic, housing affordability, and fiscal
impacts of the three development concepts. (The report is available on the
Land Use Study Committee home page)
JANUARY 2007 – WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As many Town residents know, the Weston Nurseries property is close to being sold. Regardless of the buyer, any development that will occur there must be “economic” for the developer in that it must show a positive return on investment, and this likely will include a mix of housing and other land uses.
Generally speaking, the LUSC has agreed that some development is inevitable. The committee has a sense of how much it will cost the Town to purchase the property and will soon know the intended buyer/developer for the property. While the LUSC has tried and failed, initially, to have the Town create an Economic Development Industrial Corporation (EDIC) that will act on the Town’s behalf in a buy/sell real estate ownership role, the committee continues to recommend to the Town that it do so.
In
addition, the committee has solicited and identified potential private
partners for a possible public/private development scenario and has examined
various obstacles to Town ownership, including debt, the lack of an EDIC to
own the Weston Nurseries property and the uncertainty of town meeting approval
Now,
as the LUSC, Planning Board, Selectmen, and all of Hopkinton’s residents
consider whether or not to exercise the rights available to the Town under
Chapter 61A, the questions we must ask are:
§
Do we buy and hold as open space?
§
Do we buy and take our time figuring out how the
land gets used, acting as our own “developer”?
§
Do we invest some funds and assign our rights to a
third party land conservation organization to guarantee open space and more
limited development?
§
Do we not buy, and await a plan presented by a
developer?
Answering these questions with wisdom – and, to as great a degree as possible, consensus – will be critical work for the Town in the next three months. The East Hopkinton Master Plan process as choreographed by Sasaki under the auspices of the Planning Board, the Land Use Study Committee, and the Civic Engagement Committee, should provide the vehicle that will enable all of us who care about the future of Hopkinton to make informed and visionary decisions.
[1]
It is important to note that development is not,
ipso facto, highly profitable. Development is a highly risky business.
Success depends on properly identifying a market, negotiating the
regulatory process, and executing cost-effective build-out. The passage of
time and discovery of unknowns can quickly turn positives into negatives.
Please send email with questions, comments or ideas to the Hopkinton Planning Director.
Return to Hopkinton.org
Copyright Town of Hopkinton, 200