February 28, 2008  |  The Enterprise
Easton’s biggest project gets a hearing
The “Smart Growth” district would include offices, retail shops and 280 units of cluster housing.
By Vicki-Ann Downing
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

EASTON — The biggest development project in the town’s history, a village of shops, medical offices, apartments and condominiums bordered by Route 138 and the town’s wells, had its first public airing Wednesday night.

The Planning Board held a nearly three-hour public hearing on a new zoning bylaw that would allow Easton to create its first “Smart Growth” district on 60 acres off Route 138, across from its intersection with Belmont Street.

The board continued the hearing until March 12. If it decides to recommend the bylaw, it would then need a two-thirds vote of approval from voters at a special town meeting, already set for April 14.

If the new zoning district is established, it would then clear the way for developer Douglas A. King to formally propose his “Queset Commons,” a village-style development of densely clustered housing, 280 units in all, including affordable and assisted-living residences.

But King’s proposal is not the topic before the Planning Board now, according to Adam J. Costa, a lawyer advising the town. The board must decide whether it wants to designate the Smart Growth district and whether it likes the bylaw.

“You are hearing and reading things about Trader Joe’s and some new restaurants, but that’s really getting ahead of things,” Planning Board Chairman Christine M. Santoro told the audience.

Whether the project’s location is suitable must also be decided by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which is still considering the matter, said Costa.

Smart Growth districts are designed for areas within walking distance of transit centers, such as bus and train stations.

Mark S. Bartlett, an engineer for King, said the Easton location meets the criteria because a BAT bus route that now includes the Easton Industrial Park will be expanded to stop at Queset Commons and travel between the Stoughton and Brockton commuter rail stations.

In addition, King would pay for improvements to the intersection of Routes 138 and 123, build a new three-bay fire station for the town, and construct a wastewater treatment plant that could also serve parts of North Easton Village.

While fewer than 20 residents attended the hearing, they were vocal.

Many were critical of the project’s location. It is downstream from three town wells and located in an aquifer protection district. Some treated wastewater will be discharged into a portion of the district.

Kyla Bennett, chairman of the Easton Conservation Commission, and her husband, Don, charged that contaminants from personal care products and medical waste will wind up in town water.

“We’re putting a dense population with elderly housing on top of our water supply,” said Don Bennett.

But Bartlett argued that King’s wastewater treatment plant will improve the situation. It will be able to treat waste from North Easton, including the elderly housing complex at Elise Circle, which is upstream from the town’s wells and poses more of a threat than King’s development, he said.

The argument was not lost on everyone.

“Are North Easton septic systems not leaching into wells now? Do we not have an essentially elderly population in North Easton?” resident Jane Sullivan asked the Bennetts. “Why did you not buy property in a town that has sewerage?”

Diane Howard, a resident whose Eisenhower Drive home is close to the proposed development, called King’s proposal “Dumb Growth” zoning.

Howard said the density of housing in the district will attract “occupants of questionable character in order to possibly receive a small stipend from the state.”

Howard was referring to another factor that makes Smart Growth attractive to communities. Easton could receive a onetime payment of $350,000 for approving the district and $3,000 more for each housing unit it allows, for a total of more than $1 million.