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Comparisons Of Building Heights
The proposed Rice Pond Village project with three (3) four-story apartment buildings with 192-apartments, as being proposed by Steven F. Venincasa and James Venincasa, is simply inconsistent and out of character with the architectural typology, density and building massing, and integration into existing development patterns in the town of Millbury.
Reasoning For Medfield Meadows Denial
Medfield Meadows was a proposed Chapter 40B project (non-Local Initiative Program (LIP)) originally proposed to have 200-units on two parcels of land on both sides of North Meadows Road (Route 27) in Medfield, Massachusetts, that was scaled-down to 183-units before it was outright denied by MassHousing. It is true, not all Chapter 40B projects get approved. Below are direct excerpts from the official denial letter.
Partnering On Local Initiative Program Projects
The Town of Harvard, Massachusetts has a defined a Procedure for Partnering on Local Initiative Program (LIP) Projects, that is transparent and engages with the public. Why doesn’t Millbury have something similar?
When Town Officials Gaslight
Why then after December 27, 2023, did Mary Krumsiek, Chairperson of the Millbury Board of Selectmen and Sean Hendricks, Town Manager, tell multiple individuals in multiple separate conversations that the Chapter 40B LIP agreement was either not ready for execution, because it was still with town council or that it had not been executed?
Chapter 40B Can Be Scaled-Back Or Denied
Proposed Chapter 40B projects can be mitigated, scaled-back, and in some cases denied. Anyone who thinks that Chapter 40B projects are a given and there is nothing that you can do, simply have a defeatist mentality, and should be ignored.
Tragedy In The Making
All indications are that the Millbury Board of Selectmen intend to enter a Chapter 40B Local Initiative Program (LIP) agreement with Steven F. Venincasa and James Venincasa under the entity name of SJV Investments, LLC for 17 Rice Road in Millbury, Massachusetts even though the developer did not concede on much of anything that the Town of Millbury had requested for public safety.