Hotel rezoning is a dead issue... for now
Published on April 7th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - With few people in attendance to provide input, the Planning Board decided, last Wednesday night, not to pursue submitting a Special Town Meeting warrant article calling for the addition of a hotel use to the bylaws.
"I don't see a groundswell (of interest) to go ahead with it for Special Town Meeting," stated board member August Niewenhous.
The board scheduled the hearing in response to a request from the Board of Selectmen last year to look into the potential for adding a hotel use to the town's commercial II district.
While other zoning articles took precedence at last October's Town Meeting, the hotel issue was put off until recently when the board opted to solicit public input on the idea.
Currently, hotels are allowed, by special permit only, in the highway business zone, though none currently exist in Stoneham.
The commercial II district, which is the area of primary consideration for adding a hotel use, is located on the west side of Route 93 in the Fallon Road area.
One interested business party, a senior manager of A.W. Chesterton Company on Fallon Road, was present at Wednesday night's meeting and questioned the board on the potential effects on property values if such a change was made.
"Would we be reassessed?" he asked.
The Chesterton family, he explained, has enjoyed its Stoneham location for over 20 years.
"If the decision means a raise in taxes, we would have to re-evaluate."
Board member Frank Federico clarified that there was currently no proposal for a hotel to be established in that area.
Attorney Mark Vaughan, a former Stoneham selectman, advised that since news of the Planning Board's consideration of a hotel use in the commercial II district hit the local media, there has been interest expressed by various hotels, many of whom are particularly interested in the area because of its easy accessibility to two major highways.
Niewenhous stated that no further direction has been forthcoming from the Board of Selectmen since its initial request that the Planning Board investigate the matter.
With this taken into consideration, Federico added that, at this point, the lack of public input did not merit submission of an article for Special Town Meeting consideration.
"I hate to categorize proactive action as last-minute," he said, referring to the short time frame with which the board would have to put together and submit such an article that, thus far, has not sparked great public interest.
The board decided not to take any action on the matter at present.
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