SHREWSBURY – The Shrewsbury Planning Board approved plans last week that may ultimately lead to a new senior housing development in town.
The unanimous vote came on Feb. 3 following consideration of a developer’s definitive subdivision plans for a property near the intersection of Greenbriar Drive and Cypress Avenue.
The plans show an entrance off a dead-end road at the intersection. That entrance would lead to a cul-de-sac and a curb cut within a 25.72-acre site.
Developer considering senior housing, official says
The plans do not show any proposed buildings on the site.
Director of Planning and Economic Development Bernie Cahill told the Community Advocate back in October, though, that the developers had told the town that they would move forward with an application for senior housing once this subdivision plan was approved.
That application, if filed, would come back before the Planning Board.
Neighbors note concerns
Chair Steven Boulay said a resident had expressed concerns about whether this entrance would be constructed before the developers go through the next stage of their project.
“They’re concerned about just having a circle in the back of their yards over there,” Boulay said.
Barry Yaceshyn of WDA Design Group told the Planning Board that developers, indeed, do not plan to leave such a circle.
Resident George Germanos, who lives in the neighborhood, raised similar concerns during an October Planning Board meeting.
He said a cul-de-sac with no other nearby development could be “either a perfect dumping ground or an area where kids or anybody can congregate.”
“I have serious safety concerns,” he continued. “I think there are some assumptions that are being made here based on really nothing. We don’t have anything to base it off of.”
Final plans include new changes
The new plans presented to the Planning Board for their approval now show an island in the center of the proposed cul-de-sac containing a rain garden.
The board’s decision on Feb. 3 also included a waiver on the thickness of the pavement on the sidewalk and road within this project.
“There was just some confusion over the regulations,” Cahill said.
The waiver was a compromise between the developers, Shrewsbury’s town engineer and the town’s consulting engineers, Cahill said.
Boulay called the decision “standard,” though he noted that it also has a condition that the road will never be approved as a public street. That will leave maintenance under the purview of a condo association.
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