Hospital rezoning, balance budget, traffic enforcement at Special Town Meeting June 12
Published on June 7th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Voters will decide on six articles at a Special Town Meeting on June 12. The first three articles involve rezoning of the former Boston Regional Medical Center property on Woodland Road. Article 4 asks to transfer $154,550 to balance the fiscal 2000 town budget. Article 5 would grant the School Department more discretion with North School rent. And Article 6 asks for $5,000 for traffic/parking enforcement.
Articles 1 and 2 ask to change the zoning of the old BRMC site from "Medical District" to "Medical/Office District." (The first article creates the district as a type, and the second classifies the site as that type.)
According to town documents, the purpose of the current zoning is "to provide an area for hospitals and services related to said hospitals, and medical offices and residential uses related to the Medical District uses."
The new zoning proposal intends "to provide an area for medical and related services, and to provide for a park-like development of general office, technological and research related uses."
There are many similarities between the current and proposed zoning: nursing homes and medical schools could go in either district, and hospitals, laboratories and medical offices would be OK in both.
There are also some big differences: with special permits from the Planning Board the new zoning would allow hotels, parking garages, restaurants, non-medical office buildings and a conference center on the property.
But the minimum lot size for buildings constructed within the 42-acre property is 40,000 square feet under existing zoning. In the proposed Medical/Office District the minimum lot size would be 130,000 square feet. Also, the new district would require maintenance of at least 30 percent of the land as open space.
And no residential uses are allowed; such uses are often a drain on town funds, cancelling out the value of new tax dollars (estimated at $1.2-1.4 million per year for what the Gutierrez Co. is proposing).
At the June 6 selectmen's meeting Attorney Charles Houghton, representing the Gutierrez Company, said it was his client's opinion as a builder that a hospital was "not economically likely" for the site. Houghton backed this statement up by confirming that Lahey Clinic of Burlington, lessee of 100,000 square feet of the property, has abandoned hope of using the space for a hospital.
The Planning Board is holding a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) in the Town Hall Hearing Room.
The Selectmen are unanimous in their support of the zoning proposal.
A two-thirds vote of Town Meeting is needed to make it happen.
Article 3 asks to include the Gutierrez property in the Wireless Overlay District in which cell towers are allowed.
Article 4 is an annual balancing of the town budget.
Article 5 asks the town to recognize a change in state law to allow the School Department to place money earned from renting the North School into a revolving account for general school maintenance. Under the existing town policy, money from rental of North would have to be used that same year only on the North School.
Article 6 is designed to create a distinct account to pay for parking enforcement. The town has been drawing money from the traffic enforcement account — traditionally dedicated to speed control — to pay the town parking clerks.
The meeting begins in the Town Hall Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
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