Grafton eyes economic development through mixed-use villages

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By Dakota Antelman, Contributing Writer

Grafton – In their ongoing plans to build two mixed-use village developments in Grafton, local surveyors, planners and politicians are trying something that even they admit is much harder to do now than it would have been 50 to 100 years ago – change the way people interact with those parts of town.

Town officials have long expressed their desire to spur economic development around the North Grafton MBTA station and the North Grafton Shopping Plaza. Taking action on that desire, they brought in consultants Ted Brovitz of Brovitz Community Planning & Design and Peter Flinker of Dodson & Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to study the idea and present a report on how to convert the areas into bustling economic centers complete with businesses and residences.

“It’s not going to happen quickly; it’s not going to be easy, but the idea is to change the zoning and to change the rules so that this kind of development is [not only] possible but also desirable economically,” said Flinker at a public presentation about the report June 28 at the Community Barn.

That 90-minute presentation was the latest opportunity for concerned residents to see what the town is hoping to do with its short-term and long-term future. This process started, however, long before June 28.

The town publically committed to studying the possibility of developing land around its MBTA station in December 2015 when they signed a compact agreement with the state. That agreement promised that the state would support the town in its efforts to study possible development of state-owned land in the area.

According to media reports at the time, officials were clear in their desire to develop that area as a complement to the existing developments at the nearby Tufts campus and Centech Park.

Since then, officials have continued to pursue that goal, hosting an informational event on the project in October of last year. They then continued to discuss the project publically through the remainder of the fall.

The June 28 presentation provided still more information while beginning to present solutions to existing barriers to development.

“We’re really interested in how the future of this area affects and is affected by all the other stuff that is going on around it,” Flinker said.

Both Flinker and Brovitz emphasized the need to engage pedestrians in the villages. They would do this by creating “Main Street-style” roadways that included large sidewalks and placing parking lots behind businesses rather than in front of them.

They would, likewise, engage pedestrians by creating small park-like spaces using the open space that zoning laws already require a development to have.

This, they hope, would not only attract businesses, but also attract potential residents of the homes that would fill the village.

“It would invite people to come rather than just having them drive through or run through on their way to the train station,” Flinker said of the village near the train station.

As the process of developing these areas continues, Flinker and Brovitz noted that developers will need to address some key remaining issues. Mainly, the area around the train station is uneven, posing problems for any possible construction. Additionally, the development would mandate expanding sewer service to the area around the station as it is currently unable to support such an increase in activity.

As Grafton seeks to attract entrepreneurs, big businesses, and homeowners, Flinker and Brovitz see pedestrian-friendly mixed-use villages at the MBTA station and on Washington Street as steps in the right direction.

For more information on the projects, visit www.grafton-ma.gov/planning-department.

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