by Frank Schroth

Despite inclement weather, over 50 residents, merchants, and town officials attended the Master Plan Forum at Glover School last night. The topic was Vibrant Mixed Use Districts and focused on 4 areas of town: East Milton Sq, Central Avenue business area, Milton Village, and northern Granite Avenue.

Daphne Politis, the consulting lead, reviewed the agenda. The principal task was to review the 4 districts identifying the assets, challenges,and opportunities that existed with each. Each area was discussed in turn. Residents voiced general concerns as well as specific ideas, issues, and recommendations for each area. Jeffrey Maxtutis, a member of the consulting team, identified some of the criteria for a “vibrant” district. These include districts that are walkable, have consistent signage that can provide branding and identity, places for gathering, and are accommodating for multiple modes of transportation.

There was quite a range of comments which came from long time residents with direct experience in real estate development as well as people new to town. Attorney Ned Corcoran, who frequently represents developers before the Planning Board, voiced the opinion that for real progress to be made the town needs to overcome an overarching psychological barrier / fear of change. Corcoran and Marion McEttrick, another local lawyer with expertise in property development and zoning, cited the abundance of non-conforming lots and the handicap imposed in redeveloping these properties. Non-conforming lots are lots that have structures that do not conform to existing zoning bylaws because they were built before the laws were written. Finding a way to ease the requirements and hurdles involved with these lots is a need and it relates to another concern expressed by a couple of local business people. Establishing a business in Milton and developing the property are extraordinarily difficult. A business person from the local William Raveis real estate agency said that the construction firm Raveis worked with to redevelop their space on Eliot Street identified Milton as one of the most difficult towns to work in of in the Boston area. This firm has experience in ~30 communities. Similarly an East Milton businessman said that identifying and resolving issues with his space took months. He cited the need for EPA compliance on issues that he had not been aware of. The recommendation being that a comprehensive set of conditions be available in a single location for a specific property and that a blueprint of approvals and compliance be avaiable.

The issue to win the kewpie doll was parking. It was  the key issue identified by many present to supporting a healthy business district. There is a plan to convert the deck over the expressway in East Milton to parking. Merchants present voiced their opposition to any parking being metered. The issue of parking was also front and center in discussion of Central Avenue which is seeing a substantial increase in residential units (e.g. 36 Central Ave, apartment expansion on Eliot).

While the need to expand the property tax base was identified as a need there were not a lot of specific suggestions on what to do. Milton’s property tax is ~3.5% of the town’s total tax revenue. The businesses are largely service oriented (gas stations, spas, real estate) and there is little retail. As one resident said, “I’m spending all my grocery money out of town .  .  . People are looking to spend their money and they are leaving town to do it.”

The complete findings of the session, which was attended by 3 of the 5 Planning Board members (Innes, Whiteside, and Furze), will be collated, summarized and posted to the Master Plan’s web site which can be found here.