40B hearing reveals concerns about traffic, safety
By Melissa Muntz Contributing Writer

Shrewsbury - At an Aug. 13 public hearing regarding the two 40B affordable housing project proposals that the town must chose from, the concerns of residents were about traffic, safety and the impact on local resources.

Following a presentation from Fairfield Inc., which is proposing a mixed-use development of 335 residential units and 165,000 square feet of commercial and retail space on land between Route 9, Oak Street and Maple Avenue, John Forbes of 11 Oak St. said he was concerned about the impact additional traffic would have on his neighborhood.

"It would add a significant burden to what is already a significant traffic problem created by [neighboring schools] Montessori, Oak Middle and Sherwood Middle," he said.

Fairfield representatives have said that the development would create an additional 2,150 residential weekday trips per day, 12,300 daily trips due to the office and retail portion of the project, and a combined 20,540 trips per weekend day on surrounding roads.

The concerns about the Avalon at Shrewsbury Hills were about the impact it would have on the newly completed CenTech Boulevard, the industrial park abutting it.

The 36.4-acre site would consist of 444 rental units. Craig Blais, executive vice president of the Worcester Business Development Corp., said he was concerned the strictly residential development could negatively impact the budding industrial park.

"This area was carefully planned [for industrial use], and it was not envisioned that there would be this kind of residential development in this area," he said.

Blais said he was concerned that noise from trucks on CenTech Boulevard would not sit well with neighbors, who would in turn seek restrictions at the site.

"It's going to be difficult to co-exist," he said.

AvalonBay representatives said that many of their other developments are located at similar sites, so they did not have the same concerns.

The board is expected to reach a final decision Monday Aug. 27.