Woodmont Commons Plan Accepted for Consideration

A year after it was first brought forward, the massive Woodmont Commons master plan was accepted for consideration by the Planning Board Wednesday.

The acceptance hinged on the completeness of the plan, not yet taking into account the contents and merits of the large-scale project.

"We know that there's a fair amount of work going forward into technical review," said Ted Brovitz, a third-party consultant hired by the town. "We can identify issues and we will work closely with the Planning Board and the town and the development team, but at this point we feel the application is complete."

It's in the technical review phase that Planning Board members and the public will voice opinions about the content of the plan.

Town staff agreed that the Woodmont Commons master plan was complete enough to begin consideration.

The billion-dollar Pillsbury Realty Development proposal would build 1,300 homes, three hotels, 800,000 square feet of commercial space and 700,000 square feet of office building space, according to the application. The parcel is roughly 600 acres large.

Brovitz said two of the concerns his firm has identified with the project are the timing of specific phases and the land use flexibility requested.

"There's a significant amount of development, obviously, over 625 acres; however, there's a lot of flexibility in terms of where it might end up," Brovitz said. "There's about 2 million square feet, but it could end up on either side of 93 and I think we really need to talk about how much flexibility is reasonable and acceptable."

Planning Board member John Laferriere, who is also chairman of the School Board, said he'd like to see the large-scale project broken up into separate planned unit developments, or PUDs.

Resident Mike Speltz agreed, citing town ordinances that suggest a roadway could split a project into non-contiguous parcels.

"If eight lanes of I-93 doesn't constitute a road, then I don't know what does," he told the board Wednesday. "Looking at the plan, the character of the plan for the east side and west side is radically different. It seems logical to me to have two PUDs."

Brovitz said the board could take any action regarding multiple PUDs during the technical review to follow Wednesday's approval.

The Planning Board voted 8-1 in favor of accepting the plan as complete. Laferriere voted against the measure.

Upon Wednesday's acceptance, the Planning Board opened a 65-day window during which ordinances require the full project review must be completed.

Town staff and Planning Board members said the 65-day period would likely not be enough time given the size of the Woodmont Commons project. Developers can ask the board for an extension.

"We just have to see how it goes," said Ari Pollack, an attorney for the developers. "I expect a good give and take between the application review team, the board and staff to see if that's a good period of time. For the time being, ordinance states that that is the time period."

The Woodmont Commons proposal was continued over to the Nov. 14 meeting of the Planning Board, with a staff update scheduled for the meeting on Nov. 7.

Click here for the most recent version of the Woodmont Commons proposal, which was submitted to the town on Oct. 3.