Local Framingham Couple Try To Defend Their Downtown Neighborhood
A 5 story 46 unit residential building at 173 & 179 Union Ave aims to dominate a single family residence at 167 Union Ave. Time to fight back.
One of Framingham Downtown’s unique neighborhoods has a mix of small businesses and homes which may soon be transformed, as tall multi-unit residential developments invade the space.
One couple has been trying to fight this, as their home may soon be dominated by such a large scale building. Anyone watching the Planning Board in action as they considered this development in their meeting on February 20, 2025, listening to the developer representatives and the homeowners giving feedback on the proposal, could see that the Planning Board Members had a substantial level of discomfort with the scale of the proposed new building.
The atmosphere at the meeting was as good as anyone could wish for, as the discussion was thorough and rational, respecting all views. The developer was simply doing what developers do: design and build buildings following the local zoning rules. The homeowners were simply trying to show how the new building would dwarf their house and have a very negative impact on their home and the neighborhood. The Planning Board was doing what it could to find the best compromise in a location where the zoning rules allow a maximum height of 6 stories.
A 6 story plan has been whittled to a 5 story plan, with the top floor apartments set back in an attempt to diminish the huge volume of the building.
But the new building would still dominate the space.
The building being torn down to make way for the new residential development is a funeral home. Not anyone's ideal choice for a neighbor, but nonetheless arguably the best maintained and most attractive building in the neighborhood. Here is what it looks like today:
To the right of the funeral home with its flowering shrubs, is 167 Union Ave, where the affected homeowners live, and here is the perspective from that house:
Here is a rendering of what the new building occupying 173 & 179 Union St will look like from the same perspective:
There is obviously a remarkable difference in scale.
The homeowner’s plea is for a smaller scale building - 3 stories would work for them. Here is that homeowner, Marc Foner, who lives at 167 Union Ave, making the case for a building more in scale with the neighborhood.
167 Union Ave Abutter Comments On Out Of Scale Building at 173 &179 Union Ave
The irony in all of this is that the zoning rules are in transition right now, as the City Council is wrestling with how to handle compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.
In pursuit of a new compliance solution which makes more sense than the Mayor’s last minute ‘Hail Mary’ submission of the entire 225 acre Central Business District (CBD) submission to the state in late December, the City Council aims to shrink the CBD from 225 acres to 125 acres, with the maximum allowed building height being reduced from 6 stories to 4 stories.
That trimming of the CBD also would move the location 173 & 179 Union Ave way outside the CBD and no longer allow the largesse of a 6 story height allowance. The same is true of another proposed development at 180 Franklin St., which envisions a 5 story building with 48 units. Further, there is another planned project at 1 Howard St/38 Park St, which would be inside the trimmed CBD, but is 6 stories (Modera height!) and 135 units.
In relatively short order, none of these three planned developments would be allowed by new zoning rules which will come into effect when state MBTA CA compliance is finalized.
Why should these out of scale developments proceed now?
Green lighting those developments seems even more egregious as it now seems that sound city planning actually favors a 3 story maximum height in the CBD, and obviously that or less in areas adjacent to its boundaries.
Let’s explain that.
Framingham Really Wants 3 Stories As Its Downtown Height Limit
The Director of Planning & Community Development, Sarkis Sarkisian, noted in a recent meeting of the City Council Planning & Zoning Subcommittee on February 19, 2025, that he would have preferred 3 stories in the trimmed CBD, but to make the 4,355 required by the MBTA Communities Act, he had to go to 4 stories. Here is the video which proves that point.
Three Stories Is What Framingham Wants for the Central Business District Maximum Building Height
That suggests some important questions.
Shouldn’t Framingham stick with what it wants, rather than what the state wants?
How about setting the maximum height in the CBD to Sarkisian’s preferred 3 stories?
What impediment is there to this plan?
The obvious answer to the first two questions is YES, as that is fully in Framingham’s interest.
The impediment to Framingham going ahead with a 3 story maximum height in the CBD can be explained as follows – dogged resistance to Framingham getting credit for prior development.
If the city set the maximum height in the trimmed CBD to 3 stories, the unit count for MBTA CA compliance could fall short of 4,355 by as much as 1,000 – 1,500 units.
However, if the City Council would simply approve a MOD (MBTA Overlay District), as explained in a prior newsletter:
Framingham's MBTA Zoning Solution Takes No Credit for Past Housing
such a MOD, aligned with the existing developments on Route 9 at: Waterview Terrace, 1500 & 1550 Worcester Rd and The Green at 9 & 90, would yield 1,140 units, and any further need for units could be met by MODs on The Buckley (210 units), Avalon (442 units) or Century Estates Condominium (330 units).
A solution is in plain view, which:
Sets the maximum building height in the CBD to 3 stories.
Gets credit for prior residential development.
Achieves compliance with the state MBTA CA quota of 4,355 units.
In the best of all possible worlds, the 3 developments noted above, which would bring out of scale buildings to Downtown neighborhoods, would be put on pause until the CBD zoning is finalized, and then trimmed back to 3 stories.
Then the couple who live at 167 Union Ave could acclimate to a more compatible neighboring building and should be given a good citizen award for exposing a really important problem which would adversely affect Downtown forever.
All it takes is for the City Council to act in a manner which protects the interests of Framingham neighborhoods and residents by setting the maximum building height in the CBD to 3 stories and doing what it takes to make that happen.