baldymcbaldyface t1_jcnevsm wrote on March 18, 2023 at 2:26 AM

Reply to comment by legalpretzel in MA attorney general issues warning: Holden must comply with zoning mandate by HRJafael

What’s the backstory to the Mobil awnings? I doubt the state will actually pull funding for affordable housing in any of these towns. It’s all a bluff.

darksideofthemoon131 t1_jcpc7p2 wrote on March 18, 2023 at 3:02 PM

The center of town 31/122A is zoned historical. They restrict colors on homes and signage to keep main street "quaint." It's why Mc Donald's can't have the arches.

The Mobil station wanted to cover the pumps to bring in more customers. The town said no. They resisted, owner sued (I think) and won but the awnings had to be consistent with historic area so they are wood or faux wood, which cost a lot more because it had to be flame resistant or something.

They basically tried to fuck the business.

The town is notorious for their control over people's private property. It's like one big Homeowners Association.

baldymcbaldyface t1_jcpq2ja wrote on March 18, 2023 at 4:37 PM

Interesting. Thanks for the detailed response. I knew it was a historic area but didn’t know the lengths they went to to try and keep it that way. Historic and quaint is great however if they really wanted to improve the center of town, I can think of at least 10 buildings that are in need of immediate repairs and cleaning up.

darksideofthemoon131 t1_jcpra8k wrote on March 18, 2023 at 4:46 PM

>I can think of at least 10 buildings that are in need of immediate repairs and cleaning up.

The owners probably can't afford to fix them up because anything done is required to be kept historical- which increases the cost ten fold.

About 35 years ago the town had a lot of "townies" and it was also an Era of mass building going on. The newer people set stricter rules and forced a lot of the "townies" out. Staples of the town like the junkyard, Gibsons, and the local Holden Market were shuttled out in lieu of "quaint" streets and the Big Y.

They were once kind of hicks, then went to snobs almost overnight.

baldymcbaldyface t1_jcpw27s wrote on March 18, 2023 at 5:17 PM

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 10 years. I find it funny that they will allow developers to chop down beautiful forest land (Bailey Rd) to build what will no doubt be a huge development of overpriced, cheaply built residential housing.

bartnd t1_jd2zr82 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 1:56 PM

This is what annoys me as well. I'm in somewhat agreement on the MBTA issue in the fact that they're relinquishing control to the state for some zoning because they're adjacent to....the wonderful service the MBTA provides?

But at the same time it's like their paying people to build up more and more developments without taking anything else into account. They just built a new middle school which is already running out of space and yet they're still approving more permits which will add more strain to the schools.

FIFAFanboy2023 t1_jcyupx3 wrote on March 20, 2023 at 4:39 PM

This sounds exactly like what happened in Holliston in the late 90s.