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LUNENBURG -- Residents at Tuesday's special Town
Meeting approved the creation of a new "smart growth"
zoning district that will allow the construction of
high-density housing at the Tri-Town Drive-in.
Two-hundred-eighteen voters favored the plan and 63
voted against it.
Many town officials heartily endorsed the plan on
Tuesday, saying it would give the town more ability to
manage growth.
The move will bring the town $1 million from the
state and potentially shield Lunenburg from unwanted
development projects.
"It's not just for the money, it's for the housing
stock. It's for the future planning tools we will get,"
Planning Board Chairman Lynn Sallee said at the meeting
in the Lunenburg High Auditorium. "If we get close to
the housing quota we can pass on some of these (40B
projects)."
The state dictates that cities and towns ensure 10
percent of their housing stock meets affordability
guidelines.
Chapter 40B lets developers circumvent local zoning
laws in communities that haven't reached the 10 percent
mark, as long as 25 percent of the units they build are
affordable.
The town now has 67 affordable units and needs about
310 more to reach the 10 percent mark, according to
Planning Board members.
The Tri-Town district passed on Tuesday would allow
any developer to build up to 204 multi-family residences
on the nine-acre Tri-Town Drive-in site -- far more than
permitted by existing law.
But residents of the Tri-Town area accused the town
of pushing lower-income residents into the poorest area
of town.
"It doesn't seem that Lunenburg is that interested in
the population that's already here that's lower-income,"
neighborhood resident Elizabeth Rawlinson said.
Rawlinson said the Tri-Town area presents a traffic
hazard for her family.
"You're not mentioning that you're going to squash
them all in one area where the traffic is already bad,"
she said. "I have five children, you can't walk around
our neighborhood as is without being in danger from
those roads."
Other concerns centered around how housing units in
the district would be counted in terms of affordability.
Only 25 percent of units built on the site have to be
affordable. But if the project remains all-rental, every
unit will be counted toward the town's 10 percent quota,
according to a letter from the state Department of
Housing and Community Development sent to the Planning
Board.
State Rep. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton spoke at the
meeting, saying recognition of all 204 units as
affordable would be "likely."
David Fedeli, Tri-Town's owner, assuaged residents'
fears by agreeing to sign an agreement to promise an
all-rental project.
The Tri-Town district would be created through state
law Chapter 40R, which encourages communities to adopt
high-density affordable housing under the principle of
"smart growth."
Chapter 40R also provides state money as an incentive
to towns that help create smart growth developments. If
built, the Tri-Town project would bring $962,000 to
Lunenburg. | 
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