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Natick Select Board could make call on 5 Auburn St. proposals this week

March 12, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

It was clear early on during the Natick Select Board’s March 8 discussion (see Natick Pegasus recording about 20 minutes in) about proposals to develop 5 Auburn St., that a decision would not be made that night after several Board members said they needed more time to digest “late breaking” information in the form of answers to their questions from legal counsel. But a proposal selection could be made on March 15, when the Board will mainly focus its meeting on this topic.

The Board needs to make a decision regarding the current proposals by April 12, but it also could not make a call and issue another request for proposals.

5 Auburn St., former Eliot School, Natick

Board Chair Paul Joseph acknowledged at the start of the nearly hour-long discussion that the Board had been receiving on a daily basis more emails than it got during the South Natick Dam drama last year. More than 100 emails had been received in the past week, both from supporters of using the 2.8-acre 5 Auburn St. to allow for more affordable housing and from neighbors who fear that a big development at the site of a now-vacant school building would result in traffic, parking, and other unwelcome changes to this neighborhood “rich in historic charm” (Disclosure: We don’t live far from there, and in fact received a letter this weekend encouraging neighbors to reach out to the Select Board in support of the least intense development).

The Board since fall has been mulling 4 proposals to develop the property, and has conducted in-depth interviews in recent weeks with the applicants.

Fall Annual Town Meeting voted in 2021 to authorize the Select Board to sell or otherwise transfer (“dispose of”) the property at 5 Auburn St., which as we heard during Auburn Street RFP Committee meetings might look nice on the outside but needs lots of work inside to make it usable for most purposes (including Americans with Disability Act compliance). It hasn’t been free for the town to maintain the building. The proposal selection criteria for the Select Board does include the extent to which a proposal preserves the existing structure and the open space along Eliot Street.

Changes to the property, which sits on a dead-end road less than a half mile from the South Natick Dam park, would mark another big transition in this part of town in light of the Select Board’s decision to remove the spillway (aka, waterfall).

During the March 8 meeting, Board member Michael Hickey said he was “a little shellshocked” to hear that fellow members might not be ready to make a decision given the thorough process that has taken place to date. The RFP process reflected the community’s wants for the space, and the submissions largely responded to those, he said. “If anyone’s waiting around in the public or on this board or anywhere else for the perfect project that checks every possible box, it doesn’t exist,” he said, noting that an RFP process some dozen years ago generated no proposals.

Board member Bruce Evans said he was finding it very challenging to reconcile “two very important and almost diametrically opposed items”—what’s appropriate for abutters and the need for more affordable housing in town.

The town is in various approval stages with projects that would provide more affordable housing, such as Stonegate’s redevelopment of the St. Patrick’s property, but there’s a desire to go further.

Board member Kathryn Coughlin analyzed the potential for any of the projects to generate tax revenue that would support their residents or users. She also made site visits to both the neighborhood to see the current traffic backups for herself and to sites of projects from 1 of the applicants. Coughlin ticked off a list of deficiencies in each of the proposals, none of which are “slam dunks” to approve, though she said this wouldn’t preclude her from making a conclusion at the next meeting.

The 5 Auburn St. property presents a rare opportunity for the town to support affordable housing development at property it currently owns, said Ganesh Ramachandran, chair of the Natick Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board, in a separate phone interview. “They don’t make land anymore,” he said.

Some towns have proactively funded affordable housing units and Natick hasn’t really done that over the last 40 years, except for a couple on Bacon Street, Ramachandran said (the town has, however, made efforts to support private developments). While the Housing Trust Fund made its own proposal for 5 Auburn St., Ramachandran said he’d like to see the Board go with a Metro West Collaborative Development proposal for 30-plus rental units that the fund would contribute $600K to, and that the applicant could fund through a mix of federal, state, and other monies that it has shown skills at navigating and securing. 

Some in town support more affordable housing wherever possible, regardless of possible negative impacts to current neighbors. The town has found itself in a crunch for affordable and low-income housing in part due to zoning restrictions that Natick is now reexamining, including along parts of Rte. 135 from the Framingham line and past Natick Center.

“The town has arrived at this point of lack of affordability not only because of economic factors, but also community factors, and so we are all sort of inheriting that reality right now,” Board Chair Joseph said. “This board’s going to make the best decision given the information and the process we’ve gone through…”


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Filed Under: Government, Real estate

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Natick Drama Workshop’s ‘Wild, Wild, Wildest West’ coming March 18 & 19

March 10, 2023 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Natick Drama Workshop will present “The Wild, Wild, Wildest West,” a musical spoof of Hollywood westerns that features villains such as Snydley Dastardly, at Natick Middle School on Saturday March 18 (2pm and 6:30pm) and Sunday March 19 (2pm).

Tickets are available for purchase online and cost $7 for kids and seniors, $10 for adults.

 

wild wild wildest west


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Filed Under: Entertainment, Theater



MOM’s Organic Market coming to Natick’s Sherwood Plaza

March 9, 2023 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

MOM’s Organic Market, which operates about 2 dozen grocery stores, plans to open at Natick’s Sherwood Plaza.

The store will be located to the right of CTS (aka, Christmas Tree Shops), which downsized its space. It could be open by September.

 

MOMsLogo_600_Color_2021

The business started in 1987 in Maryland doing home delivery and has most of its stores in the Maryland/Virginia/Washington DC area. It recently entered the New England market by opening a Burlington, Mass., store.

“We’ve been told from quite a few Bostonians, retail and real estate experts that it would be a great place for a MOM’s,” says CEO Scott Nash.  “And, the demographics line up.”

The biggest difference this store has over the others, it is all Organic and actually publishes the list of banned products they will not carry. They have a very loyal following in other markets.

MOM’s touts its attention to not just organic groceries, but it publishes a list of ingredients that won’t be found products it sells. It also promotes sustainability, such as by ditching plastic bags in 2005.

“They have a very loyal following in other markets,” according to Sherwood Plaza’s Ria McNamara.

Natick has no shortage of groceries stores. MOM’s will join Wegman’s and Stop & Shop on Rte. 9 (and Whole Foods isn’t far away in Framingham), plus Roche Bros. and Aldi’s are options.

The arrival of MOM’s at Sherwood Plaza marks the return of a grocery store in that shopping area. A store called Heartland, a division of Purity Supreme, operated there in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

There are lots of changes at Sherwood Plaza these days, with Christmas Tree Shops rebranding to CTS, Pet World moving from its standalone space into the main strip of stores, and Barnes & Noble making its move there later this year from Shopper’s World.


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Filed Under: Business, Food

Reminder: Natick 2023 Candidate Forum on Monday, March 13

March 8, 2023 by Admin Leave a Comment

The Natick 2023 Candidate Forum, organized by political action committee Yes for Natick, is slated for Monday, March 13 at 7pm and will be online. Register for this online event.

The forum will be moderated by Deborah and Bob Brown of the Natick Report.
Submit your questions for the candidates at YesForNatick@gmail.com.
This Yes for Natick forum will be recorded for telecast by Natick Pegasus.
yesfornatick

Filed Under: Government, Town Election 2023

Natick library event: Author to discuss history of Boston Marathon

March 8, 2023 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Join author Paul Clerici, as he discusses the Boston Marathon on March 22 at 7pm at Morse Institute Library. Among his books are “Boston Marathon History by the Mile” and “Images of Modern America: The Boston Marathon.”

The writer will take you through the 26.2-mile route – mile by mile, town by town, story by story – from its start in 1897 to present day.

Register to attend the free event. Books will be available to purchase and can be signed by the author.

Program is sponsored by the Friends of the Morse Institute Library.

More: Natick’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners


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Filed Under: Books, Boston Marathon, Morse Institute Library

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