Brickstone - Town Meeting 2014

The Town Meeting vote on the latest Brickstone proposal--57/43 percent in favor--did not provide the two-thirds majority required to pass. This despite the persuasive advocacy by Selectman Heitin, the faithful meeting attendance by Town Counsel and engineer Tom Houston, and the loyal if somewhat reluctant support by the committees.

     The choice was stark: land vs. threats of 40B. The price: $3 million plus guaranteed "all final permits and approvals for 98 units" by right. Kicked to the wayside: right-process. Custom zoning written by and for Brickstone. No special permit review or oversight (necessary protections for the town). With this gun to their heads, the subsequent board "reviews" touted in the development agreement could only have produced results compliant with the developer's desires. A crippled, meaningless process.

     Our town boards were excluded and disrespected. Conservation commission and zoning and planning boards were not consulted or asked to partner in the process of crafting the development agreement. Their expertise on development outcomes was apparently deemed irrelevant.

     Mr. Heitin worked for 20 months sub rosa to pursue this "additional option" for the Rattlesnake Hill land, but he fails to understand the importance of inclusive government. The ideas and opinions of townspeople are not valued, unless they follow suit with Mr. Heitin's own. Public forums, like the (unusual) ones for Sacred Heart last summer, are an unfamiliar concept in Sharon.

     This was not Cannon Forge vs. a residential subdivision. It would have added 98 homes (377 bedrooms) to Sharon census totals, poured 100+ students into the schools, descanted 100+ new cars into a narrow Scenic Road and the overstrained train parking, blocked most other community preservation projects for 20 years, worsened our state "affordables" count, and even if $850,000 houses "pay for themselves," certainly burdened town budgets with collateral costs. Brickstone had no interest in developing this land . . . they sought an "exit strategy," leaving behind unknown developers for the Town to deal with.

     Life slings arrows, and the state slings 40Bs. But we must fight those slings one by one as best we can. We might well lose, but at least we can say we stuck to the principles of right-process, not expediency.