In comparing the proposed Chapter 40B Local Initiative Program (LIP) Rice Pond Village project with direct abutters, those properties within 300-feet of the proposed project site (as determined by the Millbury Assessor), no property is greater than 2.25 stories in height and the majority are between 1-1.75 stories in height, therefore, three (3) four-story apartment buildings with 192-apartment units is simply out of character, not harmonious, and is incompatible with its surroundings as documented below with data from the MassGIS database, as of Tuesday, October 05, 2021.

Of the fifty-three (53) direct abutters of the proposed Chapter 40B LIP Rice Pond Village project property, forty-three (43) that are one-story (1-1.75 stories), eight (8) that are two-stories (2-2.25 stories) in height, and two (2) parcels of land are vacant and undeveloped. There are no three- or four-story buildings of any type within 300-feet of the proposed project site.

All distances shown in table are straight line distances in miles and calculated by GPS coordinates from the MassGIS database from building to building, not navigating over local roads from one address to another, which in most cases would be further distances.

In the town of Millbury, there are a limited number of buildings that are three or more stories in height. The complete listed in the table below, as obtained from the MassGIS database, includes the individual building addresses, the number stories, the distance in miles (straight line) to the building from the existing former McLaughlin family house at 17 Rice Road In Millbury, Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Use Code.

There are only one (1) four-story building and thirty-four (34) three-story buildings in the entire town of Millbury according to the MassGIS database.

Therefore, the proposed three (3) four-story apartment buildings with 192-apartments, as being proposed by Steven F. Venincasa and James Venincasa, are simply inconsistent and not compatible with the nearby architectural structures, typology, density, building massing, scale, and integration into existing development patterns in the town of Millbury. Please refer to the Massachusetts Handbook: Approach to Chapter 40B Design Reviews. Additionally, the proposed Chapter 40B LIP Rice Pond Village project site is located within a Suburban II Zoning District that has a maximum height restriction of thirty (30) feet including all rooftop equipment, as regulated by the Millbury Zoning Bylaws. No waiver should be granted by the Millbury Board of Appeals.

As is abundantly clear from the donut pie chart above, the proposed Chapter 40B LIP Rice Pond Village project with three (3) four-story buildings will dwarf the existing neighborhoods in magnitude (192 vs. 53 dwelling units), the height (four-story apartment buildings vs. a median of one-story single-family residences), and the property sits about 50± feet higher than surrounding area (394± vs. 344± feet above sea level according to the MassGIS maps), which will make these three (3) proposed four-story buildings even more pronounced while not blending in with their surroundings. This is not the intent of the Massachusetts Handbook: Approach to Chapter 40B Design Reviews.

There is precedent to support this conclusion. Please refer to the denial by MassHousing for the Medfield Meadows Chapter 40B project, that is one example and there are probably other such projects that were denied or scaled-back in Massachusetts.