“It's really messed up. And I don't like dirty.”
Greenfield City Council President John Bottomley was presiding over his first council meeting on January 17th. Three hours into the meeting, Marianne Block, the new chair of the Economic Development Committee, wanted to raise an issue that she had brought to the full City Council. A six-month journey begins on August 9th.
Will the City Council amend a vote taken five years ago, in 2019, when a “vote swap” agreement was struck to weaken the city's Major Development Review (MDR) ordinance in exchange for building a new library? Please, we were discussing it.
The history of MDR dates back to 1991. Our town council passed a zoning law to “mitigate the potential negative impacts caused directly or indirectly by large-scale development.” His 1991 city ordinance on MDR impact reporting required a review of all developments generating more than 500 vehicle trips per day. Twenty-five years later, in 2016, the number of car trips he took was raised to 1,000, and in 2019's “Switch the Vote” he tripled to 3,000. This allowed more projects to avoid review. Ironically, MDR rarely rejects new developments. It's so lenient that in 2008, a 135,000-square-foot Walmart was allowed to pass with small “conditions.”
The first large-scale development to avoid the MDR in 2019 due to the 'easing' of traffic restrictions was an Aldi supermarket, which received site plan approval from the Planning Commission within an hour and a half. At that meeting, the Planning Commission deliberated without a quorum. The Mayor and Associate Commissioners voted for a site plan that violates our Charter and Chapter 40A. 9.
I testified twice, on August 8th and November 16th, on a motion filed by former EDC Chairman Phil Elmer. On October 5, 2023, Mr. Elmer sent an email to all City Council members explaining a motion to strengthen MDR traffic standards. In retrospect, these standards were set too high, or relaxed too much, limiting city oversight and allowing large-scale developments to proceed without major development reviews. 2,000 trips is the level the state uses for Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) reviews. ”EDC he had his MDR on the agenda for November, December and January, but the motion was not passed. Perhaps one city council member explained the reason as follows. [Aldi’s] You don't have to face these more stringent requirements. ”
New EDC Chair Marianne Block told her colleagues: “Most of the time when a zoning change comes our way, it’s because of a specific issue, whether it’s a particular business or developer, or something that’s being asked for or changed. , we need to start looking at zoning in terms of urban systems rather than in terms of what a particular company or developer wants to accomplish here.”
“I think it would be wrong to vote for this because of a particular project, because I want to vote based on principles,” added Grand Councilor Wahab Minhas. “As a general rule, any project should go through a public review process, using all the tools available to local authorities to carry out due diligence and ensure that any project has any impact. I think we need to. We shouldn't abdicate our responsibility to vet and vet people who come to town.”
“3,000 vehicle movements per day is a very high number,” Councilor Rachel Gordon said. “So bringing that down to 2,000 makes a lot of sense to me. It seems like there is, and it's about subjecting more of the community to a larger development review. teeth Significant progress seems warranted. ”
The real confusion arose when Congress was repeatedly and incorrectly told that once the MDR amendment was tabled, it would “automatically pass.” Councilor Bullock read out the correct passage in Chapter 40A s.5. It states he has 90 days from the City Council hearing before the City Council adopts the ordinance. If no action is taken, a “subsequent public hearing” will simply be held.
A one-word correction won't take six months to process. A new citizen petition has been filed asking for the traffic threshold to be lowered to 2,000 car trips. The city attorney said: “We anticipate that the Planning Commission will recommend approval of this ordinance as well, so that the City Council can appropriately adopt the ordinance.”
Email the following message to citycouncil@greenfield-ma.gov today. Stop trying to protect developers from scrutiny by voting in favor of 2,000 car trips at the March meeting. ”
Al Norman's Pushback column appears on the third Wednesday of each month.
