by Frank Schroth
An “inner-city church” is seeking to purchase a multi-acre parcel off of Hillside Street in Milton according to Todd Hamilton, a developer who has the property under contract. He said the church, did not identify due to confidentiality concerns, had had contacted him about buying the land and that serious negotiations are underway.
According to Hamilton, the church believes the site is a good fit for its needs. It will allow them to accommodate their growth and is large enough that they can include a swimming pool and recreational area for a children’s summer camp.
Mr. Hamilton had applied to the Planning Board for an open space permit to build 2 or 3 homes on the site. The proposal was strenuously opposed by some residents of the neighborhood and was eventually denied by the Planning Board (see related story here). Subsequent to the Planning Board decision, Hamilton has been exploring the possibility of a 40B. In addition, Mr. Hamilton met on numerous occasions with neighbors and town officials and during the course of those sessions, he presented 5 options which included but were not limited to a town house development, purchase of the property by the neighbors, and the 40B. The neighbors rejected all the the options, Hamilton said.
A purchase and sale has not been signed, but Hamilton said the church is demonstrating serious interest and the negotiations are moving forward.
So let ‘s see . An owner of a piece of property, seeks permission to build 2 or. 3 houses on his property . His application was rejected.
He then suggests 4 acceptable options to him to The Town in addition to a. 40 B development , which have been rejected as options by his neighbors.
Now , a potential new buyer, a church , has expressed, according to the owner, serious interest in the property that would generate $ 0 property taxes to the town.
Milton has a long standing history of supporting neighbors relating to development issues in their neighborhood.
But times have changed, it is no longer sufficient or financially prudent to just say no and kill a project . Just saying no without an acceptable , to both parties, option that meets the needs of the owner, the neighbors and the town is the way to go.
We might be able to get our wish to kill a project but we should be careful what we wish for .
calling BS on this leaked story by the Developer, nice try, coincidence that the town may be all set with their 40 B requirement now this developer is threatening a church, He knows fine well the disturbance caused by another church and the effort they went through to get their project approved. This guy is trying to drive up the price of the land and using every card in the deck, hopefully he will just go away. We all have to answer to the man upstairs with hopefully a clear slate, may he say a few prayers in his “Inner City” church (by the way how insulting to even call it that), church is a church my friend,
I can’t believe it’s 2014, I can’t believe this happens in my town, I can’t believe a developer is apparently using a scare-mongering ploy, relying on the assumption of racism, to advance his interests. Disgusting.