By Laura Hayes, Senior Community Reporter
(Photo/Dakota Antelman)
SHREWSBURY — A nine-lot subdivision may be coming to South Street in Shrewsbury.
The subdivision, called Falcon Farms, first came before the Shrewsbury Planning Board in May.
“We’re building a nice road, a nice environment, which people are striving for in this time in Shrewsbury, which is not easy to find,” said Rashid Sheik.
The project was submitted by 7 Sheryl Realty Trust, of which Sheik is a trustee. Sheik said the trust owns about 17 acres between 577 and 601 South St..
The trust has already built homes nearby, according to Sheik.
They plan to build nine more homes on this site, which Sheik estimated that it would generate about $100,000 in revenue to Shrewsbury.
“In this type of high-quality homes, you tend to get smaller families with no impact to the schools,” Sheik said in May.
According to plans submitted to the town, the entrance to the subdivision would be off South Street. The road would end in a cul-de-sac.
Engineer Joe Marquedant said the land is a mixture of wetlands and meadows, adding that there’s a stream crossing, which was a segmented block wall with a plastic pipe that connected the channel. That was installed sometime after 2015.
Sheik said the town’s Conservation Commission asked if they would be able to use the current crossing to limit disturbance.
The development’s sidewalk would start on the northern side of South Street and wrap around the development’s cul-de-sac before turning into a strip of grass, according to Sheik’s presentation.
This marked a change from initial plans shown back in May that had sidewalks on both sides of the street.
Planning Board Chair Steven Boulay asked if Falcon Farms was confident that their hearing before the Conservation Commission would be closed at the commission’s Aug. 17 meeting. They applied to that commission to construct the road, sidewalk and utilities for the site.
Sheik was hopeful, with Boulay adding their hearing has been going on for about five months.
“We’re not going to make a decision prior to Conservation,” he said.
He suggested that if they believe the process with the commission could have problems, they could consider withdrawing the project without prejudice and firm the details.
“It’s just unfair to not only this board, but also to town staff to constantly have to keep going through this process when we’re not making any headway,” Boulay said.
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