Politics & Government
UPDATED: Framingham Resident Loses Appeal on Saxonville Development
Deborah Butler, who ran for Selectmen and lost this month, lost her appeal of the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to let the Danforth Green developer build 180 luxury apartments in Saxonville.
Originally posted at 5:48 p.m. Updated with additional photos.
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Deborah Butler, who ran for Selectmen and lost this month, also lost her appeal of the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to let the Danforth Green developer build 180 luxury apartments in Saxonville.
Butler, who lives in Precinct 7, asked the Massachusetts Land Court to overturn the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals' March 19 decision.
The ZBA unanimously voted 3-0 to give developer Roy MacDowell a variance to build a 50-50 mix of 180 apartments and 180 for-sale homes on Old Connecticut Path in Precinct 3.
Framingham's Planned Unit Development (PUD) bylaw Town Meeting, which passed in the 1980s, only allows apartments to make up 20 percent of the total number of units.
Residents in Precinct 3 also had cited the PUD bylaw in their opposition to the project.
The court's ruling, issued today, April 9, stated "the plaintiff lives more than three miles from the project site and is not entitled to the presumption of aggrievement afforded 'parties in interest'.... The plaintiff's sole claim of injury resulting from the proposed project is an increase in real estate taxes, town-wide. As such, her claimed injury is of general concern to the town as a whole, and is not particular to her or the property in which she claims an interest. ... The plaintiff's separate argument that the standing requirements established and developed under M. G. L. c. 40A, § 17, are unconstitutional appears for the first time on appeal, and we decline to consider it."
Last month, at a Friends of Saxonville meeting, MacDowell said he expected he would win the appeal.
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Deborah Butler, who ran for Selectmen and lost this month, also lost her appeal of the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to let the Danforth Green developer build 180 luxury apartments in Saxonville.
Butler, who lives in Precinct 7, asked the Massachusetts Land Court to overturn the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals' March 19 decision.
The ZBA unanimously voted 3-0 to give developer Roy MacDowell a variance to build a 50-50 mix of 180 apartments and 180 for-sale homes on Old Connecticut Path in Precinct 3.
Framingham's Planned Unit Development (PUD) bylaw Town Meeting, which passed in the 1980s, only allows apartments to make up 20 percent of the total number of units.
Residents in Precinct 3 also had cited the PUD bylaw in their opposition to the project.
The court's ruling, issued today, April 9, stated "the plaintiff lives more than three miles from the project site and is not entitled to the presumption of aggrievement afforded 'parties in interest'.... The plaintiff's sole claim of injury resulting from the proposed project is an increase in real estate taxes, town-wide. As such, her claimed injury is of general concern to the town as a whole, and is not particular to her or the property in which she claims an interest. ... The plaintiff's separate argument that the standing requirements established and developed under M. G. L. c. 40A, § 17, are unconstitutional appears for the first time on appeal, and we decline to consider it."
Last month, at a Friends of Saxonville meeting, MacDowell said he expected he would win the appeal.
The agreement altered the financial payment due the Town under a 2003 agreement between an earlier owner and the Town. In exchange, the current owner, Baystone Development of Weston, agreed to convey ownership of 88 acres of land, which had been part of the development as originally proposed, to the Town.
And the developer agreed to make a cash payment of $1 million in two installments: $500,000 within 60 days of the issuance of the first building permit for any building located on the property and a second installment of $500,000 within six months of the first payment.
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MacDowell told the Friends of Saxonville he was working on the building permits and could file shortly after the appeals ruling.
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