Politics & Government
Framingham Mayor Gets in a Planning Board Tangle
In another masterpiece of bad planning, residents were given less than a week to apply for 3 open positions on the 5 member board.
Because it guides growth and development in the city, the Planning Board is one of the most important boards in Framingham. By state law it has 5-9 members, with staggered terms to ensure that in any given year the ability of the board to function is not disabled by too many board members leaving at once.
Current members of the board are:
Joe Norton's term expired in June 2024, so he is a holdover, and two other members have their terms expiring next month. Because the Mayor allowed Joe Norton to continue as a holdover, Framingham now faces the possibility that a majority of the Planning Board could depart. This may not happen, but it is exactly the scenario the state tried to prevent by requiring staggered 3 or 5 year terms. Framingham uses 3 year terms.
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Further, the Mayor in concert with the Chief Operating Officer and the Public Information Officer apparently overlooked the need to fill these expiring positions, and only called for applications from residents on April 28, 2025, in the Patch:
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and on April 29, 2025, in the MetroWest Daily News
Join Framingham’s Planning Board: Applications open until May 4
The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. on May 4, 2025, which gave qualified residents less than a week to submit their applications.
Applicants must submit a cover letter and a resume. To apply, visit:
www.framinghamma.gov/FormCenter/Office-of-the-Mayor-12/Boards-Committees-Commission-Officers-Ap-46.
From my extensive observations of the Planning Board in action, it conducts business in a very cordial, professional manner, and Chair Kristina Johnson, who is Director of Planning & Community Development in Hudson, Mitchell Matorin, and Thomas Buie, do a very good job. Jeffrey Johnson has occasional trouble turning up, and Joe Norton seems to consistently argue the case for developer interests over the interests of residents.
Joe was also the board member who argued strenuously for the over development of the Edmands/Edgell parcel. He was the lone holdout board member who wanted to visit a thousand new apartments on that rural village.
Further, Joe Norton voted on the Nobscot Edmands/Edgell parcel in the MBTA Communities Act (MBTA CA) rezoning considerations, despite the fact that he had clearly verifiable connections to the developers who would benefit from rezoning that parcel.
This column called for him, and City Councilors Phil Ottaviani and Janet Leombruno to recuse themselves on those MBTA CA votes, and that drew a Cease & Desist letter from Joe Norton, Phil Ottaviani and Janet Leombruno's sister, which claimed libel, and aimed to suppress the article I wrote on that:
Framingham Mayor Aims to Wrap Up $20 Million Xmas Gift for Developers
I retained a very good First Amendment attorney, Jeffrey Pyle at Prince, Lobel and Tye, and successfully defended against the Norton et al attack. As my attorney said, “It is not libel if it is the truth”.
So, it would be a good thing for Joe Norton to depart the Planning Board, and for both Kristina Johnson and Mitchel Matorin to continue. I hope they both reapply.
I also hope, even though the time frame is very short, that we get a good set of qualified candidates applying for the vacant positions.
It would be especially appealing if the Planning Board could be reinforced by one or two retired architects, as there are none currently on the board, and their absence is painfully apparent in some of the poor outcomes in recent years, such as the Modera building on Route 135 and the most recent residential development in Nobscot. In this context, it also seems very appealing to expand the Planning Board from 5 to 6 members to counter the Jeffrey Johnson occasional absence problem.
A final note is that, given the poor management of the Planning Board member term expirations, it seems that the 16% pay raises for the Chief Operating Officer, Mike Tusino, and Public Information Officer, Susan Petroni, in the FY26 Mayor’s city budget proposal, should be substantially trimmed back. That is especially true, as these two also played a prominent role in steering the planning effort for the Community Center onto the rocks.
How the Framingham Community Center Project Ran Aground
Residents can voice their opinion of the Mayor in this Planning Board misadventure, in the November 4, 2025, Mayoral election.
