The Framingham Mayor's Nobscot Folly

Jamming high density housing into a village far from transit corridors makes no sense for compliance with the state MBTA Communities Law.

On August 22, 2023, this column carried a guest article on Nobscot development by City Councilor Adam Steiner:

Guest Column By Framingham City Councilor Adam Steiner on Nobscot Development

There Councilor Steiner elaborated on the Mayor's ill-conceived push to rezone a 36.8 acre land area in Nobscot for high density development. Community opposition blocked that Mayoral miscue, but now the Mayor has cooked up another scheme to foist on this suburban/rural village high density urban development of that exact same parcel.

Using his influence on the Planning Board, whose members he appointed, the Mayor has contrived to include the contentious Nobscot development in the city's compliance plan for the state MBTA Communities Law: MGL c.40A § 3A. That law​ is designed to boost multi-family high density housing in the vicinity of transit corridors, and is well explained in:

Multi-Family Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities​​

[Note that the MBTA Communities Law was passed in January 2021 under the Baker administration, with unanimous support in the Senate and overwhelming support (143-4) in the House. The Healey administration is charged with implementing the law.]

​Inclusion of Nobscot in such planning makes no sense at all.

Not only is Nobscot far removed from key transit corridors such as I-90, Route 9 or the Commuter Rail, but the scale of the proposed development is completely at odds with the scale of a suburban/rural village, which already had 160 new apartments added in a recent major development. In addition, Edmands Road, which would be a primary traffic conduit for the development, is largely a bucolic country lane, with no sidewalks, and speed bumps installed to slow traffic.

Further, as one informed Nobscot resident pointed out at a public hearing conducted by the Planning Board on October 17, 2024, the proposed development is also completely at odds with key goals articulated in the city’s Economic Development Strategy report (p1-2):

• Encourage location-appropriate and scale-sensitive development

• Prioritize the preservation and improvement of existing neighborhoods

• Plan and manage impacts of future growth on existing residents and businesses

• Enhance multi-modal transportation connectivity and convenience

It is also remarkable that, while the Planning Board began its long process to produce an MBTA Communities Law compliance plan way back on January 18, 2024, as recently as August 29, 2024, Nobscot was nowhere to be seen in the planning.

Both Nobscot and Saxonville popped into view at the September 19, 2024 meeting of the Planning Board. There was no notice to either Nobscot or Saxonville communities and Joe Norton, a real estate professional and member of the Planning Board, acted as the Mayor’s hatchet man, inserting these huge last minute changes to the plan. The plan was approved at that September 19 Planning Board meeting, with zero community input. It can be viewed here:

MBTA Communities Law Zoning Proposal​

and includes recommendations for 6 'overlay' zones (MBTA Overlay Districts, or MODs for short):

1. Downtown (70 acres; 2,100 units)

2. ​Saxonville (5.4 acres; 162 units)

3. Nobscot (36.8 acres; 1,104 units)

4. Shopper's World (12 acres; 360 units)

5. Rt9/I-90 Staples Headquarters parking lot parcel (15 acres; 450 units)

6. Speen St (14 acres; 420 units)

​totaling 4,596 units, more than the state law requirement, which for Framingham is 15% of its current 29,033 housing units, or 4,355 units.

Items 2&3 makes no sense at all, within the scope and intent of the MBTA Communities Law as they include village locations which are far from transit corridors. Further, the Nobscot proposal especially stands out like a sore thumb, not only for its long distance from transit corridors, but the for the fact that such a development is completely out of scale with its neighborhood.

It is obvious to anyone that the main transit corridors in Framingham lie along the Commuter Rail & Route 135, plus Route 9 and I-90, so that adding new high density housing in those vicinities aligns well with the new state law. That also makes sense because as the bricks and mortar business sector has weakened, multiple commercial buildings along those corridors are vacant or under-utilized, and converting them to residential complexes puts them to much better use. A prime example of that is the Staples complex on Route 9, but whereas that site is 47 acres, only its 15 acre parking lot was included in this September 19 Planning Board proposal. More on that shortly.

Fortunately, the law required a public hearing be held by the Planning Board prior to transmission of its recommended plan to the City Council, which is the decision making authority in this matter.

That hearing was held on October 17, 2024, and a huge presence of more than 60 Nobscot residents mounted reasoned and articulate opposition to the imposition of the Mayor’s high density development plan on Nobscot.

The Planning Board response to the public hearing was very problematic.

First, only 4 out of its 5 members were present for such an important discussion and final vote to transmit a recommendation to the City Council. Second, only 2 of the 4 members present seemed to have any idea of their role.

Both Mitchell Matorin and Thomas Buie seemed to understand and appreciate the sound arguments made by the Nobscot residents, and suggested downsizing the density for Nobscot and Saxonville from 30 units/acre to 15 units/acre and shifting more units to the Staples Headquarters location by expanding it to include the entire 47 acres, not just the parking lot.

Both Chair, Kristina Johnson, and Vice-Chair Joe Norton, seemed tone deaf to the Nobscot input and inclined to stick with their original plan. However, that produced a 2-2 impasse to transmitting the original plan to the City Council. The Chair reluctantly resolved the problem by accepting the changes suggested by  Matorin and Buie, and the adjusted plan passed 3-1.

Joe Norton, as the lone NO vote, remained resolute in his commitment to overdevelop Nobscot.

In a subsequent meeting, on October 21, 2024, the City Council Subcommittee on Planning & Zoning met and discussed the plan. This was a preliminary assessment prior to the full City Council considering the matter on October 29, 2024, and holding a final public hearing.

In that meeting, there was a lot of justified grousing about the rushed nature of the process, with the City Council only being able to engage two months before the deadline of December 31, 2024 for submission of the city’s plan to the state, and the last minute insertion of Nobscot and Saxonville. Councilor Ottiaviani noted that when the Mayor had an option early in the process to make sure the City Council could collaborate with the Planning Board in the process, the Mayor blocked collaboration.

It seems that even with the process manipulated by the Mayor to slip in his favorite high density development for Nobscot at the last minute, and the Planning Board not functioning in an optimal way, a solution can be found by the City Council making some simple adjustments to the plan. They can get it right and engage the community in a much better fashion than the Planning Board.

It is important for all interested parties to turn up to the City Council meeting on October 29, 2024 and give their input at the public hearing. The agenda with materials can be found here.  

A few other comments are in order.

A key fact which seems to have been overlooked so far is the remarkable potential of the Staples Headquarters property on Route 9.

The entire 47 acre parcel is now included in the plan, and the site already has a major building with all of the required infrastructure in place to mitigate the cost to the city of redeveloping this into residential housing for families. The Staples leadership was smart to place their headquarters near the one place where I-90 and Rt 9 intersect.

Traffic heading out of that location can access both major highways in both directions. That means minimal local road traffic impact, and the fastest possible commutes to and from work. Further, the site has such scale that it could attract a really great development, with residences supported by a small market, a restaurant, green space and other recreational facilities.

If the full 47 acre Staples property were included in the plan at a density of 30 units/acre, Nobscot and Saxonville could be removed from the plan by the City Council and allowed to develop in a much more organic, properly planned manner. The Staples property could take up the slack and could prove to be one of the most attractive residential developments ever done in Framingham, well aligned with state objectives for housing and transit.

A final thought is that the composition of the Planning Board needs adjustment.

One member seems unable to turn up to critical meetings, and two others seem to have a poor understanding of their obligation to fold in intelligent community input. Further, it boggles the mind that there is not a single architect serving on the board, which explains why some of the development in Framingham is lacking in design appeal.

It would be a great improvement for the Planning Board if the no show member got moved off and a couple of architects and another planner were added.