About The Proposed Development

This proposed facility will be nearly 60,000 square feet when completed. Northbridge’s facility in Needham is 49,000 square feet and their Newburyport facility is 50,000 square feet. This proposed facility will be 60% larger than the Fruit Center Marketplace. The neighbors believe the proposed facility is outrageously large for the site that is composed of wetlands, streams and a vernal pool, which are vital habitats for rare plants and animals.  The site is located in a residential neighborhood and many neighbors are extremely concerned with the impacts this proposed facility will bring. Neighbors will be able to see this facility from their homes, including the large dumpsters the facility needs. Highland Street is designated as a "scenic road" by the Town of Milton. The neighbors believe we should keep it as such and maintain the site as residential. 

Added traffic from this development threatens to overwhelm narrow residential streets and adds to Highland Street’s current traffic problem. Despite claims from the developer that the traffic impact would be minimal because “the residents don’t drive”, the traffic study conducted showed a real volume of new traffic would be nearly 2,000 additional vehicle trips per week. It was never about residents of the facility. It’s about the 75 employees, numerous visitors, regular deliveries and all the commercial traffic needed to run a large 55,000 – 60,000 square foot commercial facility providing 24/7 care and food service. Given current traffic patterns, restrictions on Highland and bottlenecks on Canton, the majority of traffic would use Spafford Road to access the facility. Highland Street itself is a narrow, residential scenic road where large trucks are prohibited. It has no room for a shoulder in either travel lane and only a partial sidewalk on one side. Currently, trucks and cars going to and from Milton Hospital use Spafford Road as a way to access the Highland Street entrance quicker. Spafford Road has no sidewalks and has become un-walkable with the influx of vehicles. We care immensely about the safety of the neighborhood's kids and pedestrians. We proposed that the existing traffic concerns be addressed before any part of the development move forward.  

This plan puts historic homes at risk - As former planning board chair Denny Swenson said, the whole property is a "swamp," with extensive wetlands, multiple streams, vernal pools and a tremendous amount of water flowing through it. Most of the neighbors on Spafford Road and many on Highland Street have sump pumps running constantly to keep the high water table at bay and their basements dry. The impact of cutting down hundreds of mature native trees and creating over an acre of impermeable hardscape is likely to alter the flow of storm and ground water, potentially significantly. Despite plans to contain storm water including creating catch basins or rain gardens, the modeling they've done doesn’t assess the impacts to ground water which is a huge concern because the water table in the entire hill is so high already and most of the nearby houses have old, porous foundations given their age and history. It’s difficult to predict with certainty what will happen to nearby houses during peak weather events when all that land in the middle of the nearby wetlands is made impermeable, especially when future climate projections estimate more and more precipitation. Moreover, the environmental impacts are also very concerning. Forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Forests clean the air, sustain biodiversity and genetic resources, control floods and erosion, and act as in important butter against climate change especially together with wetlands. By deforesting this area, this important buffer would be gone. 

Despite telling the neighbors that the sewage from the facility would be tied into Winter Valley, they've now reversed course because they were not able reach an agreement with Winter Valley. So, the current proposed plan is to tie into Spafford's sewer line. However, the sewer line on Spafford only handles 20 houses and is very likely very old. Adding 70 units with hundreds of fixtures plus usage from dozens of employees per shift, various visitors etc. would likely more than double the volume. We propose they run a new or upgraded sewer line down to Reedsdale Road. We can't risk what could happen if Spafford's sewer gets overwhelmed. It wasn't designed to handle any more additional capacity especially if it’s pumped under high pressure. 

Both because of how narrow Highland Street is and because of the wetlands issues, access into and out of the site would be compromised and much more restrictive than any of Northbridge's other facilities or really any facility of this type and size. Emergency vehicles, large delivery trucks will all struggle to turn in and out without blocking both lanes of Highland Street. Why should Milton accept a substandard plan? We should be doing the state of the art. Because of extensive wetlands at the property and the tremendous amount of water flowing through it, this site does not allow the space for an adequate and safe plan for the size of proposed development. We urge the Planning Board to review the swept path analysis and to consider the enormity of this facility.

Japanese knotweed and other invasive species have taken over the current land. Japanese knotweed is a perennial invasive species that has a rhizome root system. The plant's roots and rhizomes can growth to a depth of 2m, meaning that it has a modified stem system that grows underground (much like a tree's roots), these rhizomes enable Japanese Knotweed to lay dormant for extended periods. Japanese Knotweed's rhizome root system spreads anytime a section of this rhizome root is cut. It can spread downstream, by construction vehicles and even by shoes. We urge the Planning Board to consider the impact this will have on all of the Neponset River Watershed communities. 

In order to build this facility, more than 300 trees will be cut down and 12,000 cubic yards of fill will be brought in. This development will significantly alter the land permanently. Northbridge Companies' in their proposal acknowledge "the development will have an obvious affect on wooded areas". We urge the Planning Board to consider the affect it will have on the existing ecosytem and wildlife. 

There will be significant noise pollution because of this proposed development and we believe the neighbors will be significantly impacted because of it. We want to maintain our right to quiet enjoyment and have proposed work only be completed during the week. This facility will also have significant light pollution impacts which could disrupt the current wildlife.  Additionally, road-salt and chemicals used to control invasive species could enter our waterways causing significant pollution and impairement of water quality.