To the Editor:
It’s Time to Protect Marion from Big Box Formula Business Development. The thousand plus petitioners voicing opposition to the proposed CVS project have an opportunity to convert their signatures to votes at the May 11, 2015 Town Meeting by supporting the zoning change proposed by Warrant Article 43.
Big Box and formula-driven business models such as the recently proposed CVS project can negatively impact the quality of life in a small community like Marion. This zoning amendment regulates the intensity of the foot print size for commercial development. At this time, Marion has no zoning regulating project footprint size.
This proposed bylaw caps the footprint size of commercial projects in the general business district to the greatest of 5,000 square feet or 10% of the lot size. The cap’s minimum allows for development of lots an acre or less. All other zoning bylaw regulations still apply.
December 18, 2014 is the date of first publication of the notice of the Planning Board’s public hearing on this proposed bylaw. This is a very important date for Marion and stabilizing the intensity of the size of Route 6 development. First, any developer having a statutory qualifying development plan in place before this publication date is entitled to freeze current zoning in place. The Town cannot change the zoning rules once the development plans become known. If a developer does not have such a qualifying plan in place, any plans submitted to the Planning Board after the first publication of notice will be governed by any zoning changes adopted.
At this point in time, the proposed CVS project may be in disarray. If the developer cannot meet the statutory requirements for a zoning freeze and Article 43 passes, then any future development of the corner of Route 6 and 105 (the Hadley House corner) will be subject to the new project footprint size zoning restrictions.
At the Music Hall Planning Board meeting, the CVS developer proposed a 12,900 square foot building. This is the CVS formula business building size as published on its web site. The project lot size is 77,537 square feet. With the 10 % project footprint restriction in place, CVS would only be able build a 7,754 square foot project inconsistent with its formula business plan. This is a significant negative for CVS and its developer. A CVS developer business decision would have to be made to accept the smaller building footprint required by the new Marion zoning or move on to a different location.
Failure of Article 43 to pass will mean the loss of the valuable restriction now in place with the December 18, 2014 first publication date for future developer zoning freezes.
Ted North, Marion
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