When Shrewsbury town meeting members voted to change zoning from commercial to limited industrial, we do not feel that they fully understood the magnitude of this decision. With the new zoning designation, a proposed project of nearly one million square feet of warehouse buildings serviced by 500 trailer trucks per day, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day is being considered. It sits directly near the aquifer that supplies Shrewsbury with all its water. It is next to wetlands and situated in a residential neighborhood.
Part of the strategic plan for Shrewsbury includes the “All in Shrewsbury Municipal Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.” One of the goals is fifty percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. One quote from the plan is, “Balancing growth and development with protecting natural and recreational resources is possible and integral to preserving Shrewsbury’s community character.”
The Shrewsbury Master Plan of 2016 stated that serious protection of the northwest quadrant of Shrewsbury where the aquifer is located should only be used for passive recreation.
The project poses a possibility of 182,500 tractor trailer trucks passing through Shrewsbury every year. An average one mile trip of one tractor trailer truck produces .89 lbs. of carbon dioxide. This translates to 162,425 lbs. of carbon dioxide for each mile each of these trucks travels in Shrewsbury.
This proposed project jeopardizes all of the positive environmental improvements that so many Shrewsbury residents are striving for. The town needs to go back to the original commercial zoning for this area.
We believe that 142 Clinton Street needs to be cleaned up and developed with a proposal that carefully considers the impact it will have on all Shrewsbury residents, the immediate neighborhood, the wetlands, the aquifer, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the streets on which we drive.
Respectfully,
Robert Heller
Linda Heller
Shrewsbury
