But last night's meeting of the town's planning board failed to approve the Newton, MA-based developer's conceptual plan for the town's largest ever project. It was agreed though that the board will take up the discussion at next week's meeting, and that is where things can get really complicated.
The planning board's next meeting could be its last with this configuration, as two of its five members are up for reelection the night after the meeting. The candidates running against those two members are part of a local activist group, Save Our Towns, which was formed to oppose the Danforth Farms project.
The group has local residents as well as residents from neighboring Wayland, Natick and Sudbury. If the project has to go before a planning board with new members, the developer will have to go through the whole process again. And if it has to go before a newly-configured planning board, it is highly likely that it will be rejected.
"There is a lot of motivation to pass the project at the next meeting," Kathy Bartolinin, planning director for Framingham, tells GlobeSt.com. "The planning board feels the developer has cooperated with the town."
Town Meeting recently voted to allow the project to use a municipally owned road as one of its two access roads. The site was rezoned in 1989 to allow for a mixed-use development. In addition to the residential units, the project has 4,000 sf of commercial space that will be used for retail.
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