Tewksbury Planning Board Considers Controversial Zoning Change

TEWKSBURY, MA -- The Tewksbury Planning Board will consider on Monday whether to endorse a warrant article for the special town meetings on May 7 and May 9, respectively. If passed by town meeting, the new law would allow developers to build more houses on smaller plots of land. The current zoning for areas zoned R40, or residential, limits builders to one housing unit for every acre.

Under the new law, the planning board would have authority to grant developers special permits exempting them from the one house/one acre rule. While the new rules apply to any section of town zoned R40, they came to the forefront in February when a group of residents learned that a developer was proposing a plan to build eight houses on the 1.95 acre lot currently occupied by the VFW club in South Tewksbury.

"We as residents of the Town will lose all say as to what can be built. As taxpayers, and voters of who we put in elected positions, we should have a say in all Town doings," said Bonnie Spiegel, who has been organizing opposition to both the proposed VFW development and the proposed changes to the town's zoning laws. "This would give way too much control by one Board."

To move forward with his project on the VFW lot, Vinnie Casazza of the Wakefield development company Apex Investments LLC would need town meeting to approve changing the zoning of the lot. Casazza and his attorney, David Plunkett, met with the planning board in January to discuss the possibility of building houses if they do purchase the VFW. Casazza said the eight houses would reduce traffic and eliminate conflicts between the commercial use of the VFW and the mostly residential use of the surrounding neighborhood. Casazza added that the VFW is currently looking for a smaller facility.

Casazza said he expects each of the eight units to be two stories tall. He noted that all but one of the lots in his proposed subdivision are bigger, on average, than other residential lots in the neighborhood.

The project and the article on the town meeting warrant underscore a long-running debate in Tewksbury. Residents complain that the town has been too quick to approve new housing projects, which stretches town services thin and has created a marked change in the feel of the town for residents who have lived in Tewksbury for decades. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 11,698 housing units in Tewksbury at the end of 2016, up from 10,759 at the end of 2010.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).