Well the TIF has been approved and in doing so the town has moved the process to the next stage, which is to see if SYSCO can live with our zoning bylaws and build and operate their business within those bylaws. If so, the town will be asked to approve or disapprove a rezoning change for that property from mixed use to industrial.
An article (Middleboro Gazette 6/24) recounts a Planning Board meeting on June 22, of which no notification or agenda was made public that included SYSCO and Selectmen to discuss an overview of how the project would be developed.
Two major points on concern from the article about that meeting:
- This project is too big for the site. The proposed building and pavement cover more than the 50% allowed in our bylaws. The 100 foot set back between residential properties and the site would have to be reduced to accommodate this project.
- Planning Board Chairman, Jim Marot apparently heard something no one else did at the Town Meeting. The article quotes Jim as saying, “I clearly heard them say they want to have SYSCO in there”. With all due respect to Jim, what the town said was that they approve the tax reduction for this proposal, and the process should move forward to the next stage and determine if SYSCO, with a zoning change could work The town DID NOT say to throw our current zoning bylaws out the window to accommodate this project. In fact, the moderator was very on point in not allowing discussion other than the TIF, saying that all the other concerns would be addressed during the rezoning process.
Once again, there are unpublicized meetings and an apparent rush to push the largest and most disruptive development the town has ever had through the process to meet a time line dictated by SYSCO.
We have to do better!
