Planning Board keeps talking Town Meeting articles theweektoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theweektoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
An aerial view of Main Street. Photo courtesy: Town of Wareham
A number of zoning changes are on the warrant for the Town Meeting scheduled for Saturday, May 8.
The Planning Board held public hearings about the bulk of those changes on April 12, but no members of the public participated.
Rezoning Wareham Village
The proposed changes to the Wareham Village zoning district, which stretches along Main Street from Tremont Nail to the Zecco Marina, are meant to foster redevelopment of the village while preserving its character and especially encouraging small business uses through mixed-use zoning.
Mixed use zoning allows a variety of uses, including retail, residential, office, entertainment, and culture to fit together in a single environment. Outdoor space including plazas and parks are also incorporated.
Chloe Shelford Apr 9, 2021
Following the Planning Board’s Thursday night decision that the Hospitality, Recreation and Entertainment District would need to be approved by two-thirds of voters, the Notos Group the Quincy-based developers behind the proposal released a statement implying the question was not yet settled.
At Thursday night’s meeting, Town Planner Ken Buckland read a letter from Bowen to the board. Bowen wrote that, following extensive discussion with various state officials, he came to the conclusion that the district required approval by two-thirds of voters.
If the district was passed by a simple majority at Saturday’s Town Meeting, Bowen said he was confident the Attorney General’s office would overturn the decision.
A map of the proposed district.
At their regular meeting on Monday night, the board decided to wait to decide about the necessary votes to pass the measure until Thursday in hopes the board’s query to the state would be answered.
The 756-acre Hospitality, Recreation and Entertainment district was created by the Notos Group, a Quincy-based developer, along with town officials. The district requires projects on at least 100-acre parcels and would require all proposals to go through a special permit process with the Planning Board, which gives the town a fair amount of say about what is built.
Conservation Commission to hold public hearing on proposed changes to wetland bylaws theweektoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theweektoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.