Woodmont Submits Master Plan to Town

The developers behind Woodmont Commons submitted their complete master plan to the town this week.

The planning department and Planning Board members received copies of the 246-page document on Thursday, and it has been posted on the town website for the public to review.

[A copy of the master plan is also attached as a PDF above.]

Planning Board members said at their meeting Thursday that they have not had a chance to review the document, which includes detailed information on transportation, utilities, open space preservation and much more. The board is next scheduled to discuss the Woodmont development at its Aug. 14 meeting.

At Thursday night's meeting, several Planning Board members expressed frustration with public sentiment that the board hasn't been transparent enough with the Woodmont approval process, and that it is taking too long.

Board member Mary Wing Soares said she heard a lot of that talk at an anti-Woodmont rally held last weekend.

"Personally, I don't know how this board could be more transparent than it has been," Soares said. Residents have been allowed to speak about the project, and all of the documents have been placed in a special section on the town website.

Town Planner Cynthia May agreed with Soares, saying that until now the board and the planning department were working with a very bare bones proposal.

"This board has done a good job of requiring that we need to understand what the impacts are going to be," May said. "It all takes a long time. There's just a lot going on."

"I don't know how more transparent we can be," added Soares. "To hear that over and over really frustrates me."

The Woodmont Commons development calls for the construction of more than 1,400 homes, three hotels and 800,000 square feet of commercial space on more than 600 acres in Londonderry.