Town proposes 'innovation district'

FRAMINGHAM – Residents said they are worried about worsening traffic as the Planning Board on Tuesday unveiled its proposal for a new overlay zoning district near the Southborough line.

Planning Board Administrator Amanda Loomis said the proposed “Corporate Innovation District” could add housing, restaurants, medical offices and other uses within walking distance of the 9/90 Corporate Center, across from the Tech Park.

The new zoning district would support economic development while creating an environment in which people can live, work and play, Loomis said.

“You could actually live here and walk up to work,” Loomis told a group of residents from precincts 4, 7, 10 and 11, who came out for an informational meeting.

Loomis said there are 32 parcels in the proposed district, and only three of them are undeveloped — the state’s Park & Ride lot on Rte. 9 East and two parcels in the 9/90 Center, where Staples and Cumberland Farms have their corporate headquarters.

Residents applauded when Loomis said the town would redraw a map of the overlay district to remove undeveloped land the state owns at the Mass. Turnpike Exit 12 ramps, close to Goodnow Lane.

Still, they worried more development would make traffic on Rte. 9 worse.

Jim Dibb, who lives on Goodnow Lane, drives west on Rte. 9 every morning. He said that stretch of Rte. 9 East, especially, is “one of the craziest traffic areas I’ve ever seen.”

Steve Besser, another resident of Goodnow Lane, also fears more traffic and said, as it is, he can’t even pull out onto Rte. 9 East at Country Club Lane in the morning.

“We’re going to overload Rte. 9 to the point of absolute gridlock,” Besser said.

When redrawn, the district will border the Southborough town line on the south and west and run along the Mass. Turnpike to Exit 12 and north to the rail line and edge of the Tech Park, west to Pleasant Street Connector.

Loomis said the zoning would allow for buildings up to six stories with flexible uses, including a mix of housing and commercial.

“This is what the market is demanding at this point,” she said.

Loomis said the overlay district fits into the town’s 2014 master land use plan. It would include Pleasant Street connector and properties on Rte. 9 West from the Southborough line to the Mass. Turnpike ramps, including Sheraton Framingham and the former Tin Alley Grill, which the Planning Board recently permitted to become a Wendy’s restaurant. The district would also include the 9/90 Center and land along Rte. 9 East to Exit 12.

Boston Properties once planned to build an office and hotel complex inside the cloverleaf at Exit 12, connected by a bridge over the Pike, but the developer later scrapped those plans.

In 2012, the state demolished the historic Rugg-Gates House in the Park & Ride lot.

Loomis said the Planning Board hopes to take the proposal to the Standing Committee on Planning and Zoning in late August, and bring it to Town Meeting for approval this fall.

The town meets Wednesday morning to introduce the overlay district idea to property owners.

In providing feedback, Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Joel Winett said other parts of town — such as Saxonville and Waverly Street — could use this zoning as a stimulus.

Citing traffic and the impact on neighbors, Precinct 10 Town Meeting member Bill McCarthy said he opposes the overlay district.

“At some point we have to say, 'How much building do we want?'” McCarthy said. “Do we want anybody to have a quality of life in this town?”

Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-626-4416 or dameden@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @damedenMW.