Dear Editor,
At the Town Meeting dated April 29, 2017, I stated that I would support Article 56 which is to consist of 49 two bedroom condos. This proposed housing will be located on Main Street, the old Hayden Printing Company and just a stone’s throw away from the Salvation Army building. At the Town Meeting during which this article was being presented, I wanted to ask the question (mind you, I already knew the answer) directed to the Planning Board Director (Valerie Gingrich) and my question was: Has anyone approached you to discuss the developing of the Veritiv Building, better known as the old Xpedx Building, which consists of 39.5 acres, basically copycatting the same zone as Article 56. I also went on to say that 42 Local 25 jobs would be relocated to Connecticut, therefore the building will become available for sale. Simply, has anyone approached you to discuss any future zoning of this property? Respectfully, the Town Moderator stated to the Planning Board Director, Valerie Gingrich that she did not have to answer the question as it did not directly pertain to Article 56. Ms. Gingrich stayed silent. The Town Meeting members and the residents of the Town of Wilmington did not get an answer to my question.
Fast forward to the most recent issue of the Town Crier, May 17, 2017, page 2, reporter Lizzie Hill of the Town Crier reported that the Veritiv building (the old Xpedx) will be closing down on May 20, 2017. That was this past Saturday. I know I’m not Nostradamus, but I was right, wasn’t I? On April 29, 2017, I made those comments. At the Wilmington Board of Selectmen’s meeting we heard from the Planning Board Director, Valerie Gingrich, on May 8, 2017, that the town manager, and the planning board are in favor of a special exclusionary zoning for affordable housing here in the Town of Wilmington, which is even LESS RESTRICTIVE than the 40B mandate. If I’m right relative to the Veritiv building, which I stated back in April, this parcel of property has the potential to hold 520 units on that property alone. This development will affect an already over-trafficked Main Street. This 39.5 acre parcel will directly affect the following streets: Butters Row, Towpath Drive, Gatehouse Lane, Appletree Lane, Elizabeth Drive, Chestnut Street, Patches Pond, Harris Street, Webber Street, Floradale Avenue and Burlington Avenue. With this large parcel there will be access to Flordale Avenue and also at the end of the Butters Row Bridge where they won’t even have to cross the railroad tracks, which only cross now between Charlie’s Auto Body and the big white Woodland Building. Take a ride and check it out for yourself. By the time you read this letter to the editor, we will already have had our Board of Selectmen meeting dated May 22, 2017 where I am going to ask Chairman Champoux to have an agenda item to call in the Planning Board director Valerie Gingrich so that we may discuss future development. Let me go a step further–if everything I say proves accurate, I am going to fight along with all those residents of all of those streets to be opposed to any kind of large scale housing development on the aforementioned site. It’s already zoned general industrial and there’s already a huge warehouse on the property. These large developments will be creating a tax burden to our residents because with this influx of housing and residents, we’re going to need more services in our town and will need to open new schools, widen roads, update infrastructure, police and fire, and this is just for this parcel. The next big questions are: 1. What will happen to the Textron Property on Lowell Street when the property becomes vacant this year and 2. What will happen when the huge parcel of property known as Schirappa’s Farm when that is sold? These are just two of the potential large scale parcels that are in the lineup to be developed. Once again, I’m not Nostradamus, but do you see what’s happening and why people NEED to get involved BEFORE it’s too late? All I can do is bring this forward to you residents. I can’t fight this fight alone. Is your Wilmington worth coming to a meeting and speaking up for? I think so and I know many of you do as well. Folks, we need all hands on deck for these upcoming issues.
I cannot stand idly by and let our town be overdeveloped, overtaxed, and basically overrun by large scale housing developments. Based on conversations I’ve had with many residents who live in town, they don’t want this large development either. We should not accommodate the developers, consultants and real estate people who stand to make fortunes at the expense of you and I, the taxpayers, whose property value goes up because of the huge development housing properties which in turn means our property values go up and–you guessed it–our taxes go up. and With all of these parcels becoming available, we’re looking at well over 1500 units and most likely more. I did vote for Steve Wright’s Over 55 which was presented to the town two years ago and last year I voted for the Lowell Street Housing and I voted for the most recent Article 56 on Main Street at this past town meeting. I think we should wait and see how these become developed which will give us a snapshot of how our town will look before we vote for any more.
I’m not anti-development, I’m for orderly development. The time to stand up and fight for our town is NOW. I’ll be there–will you?
Michael V. McCoy
Wilmington Selectman
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