Green Maynard wholeheartedly supports the development of additional affordable housing in the Town of Maynard. We view this as essential to an inclusive and sustainable future. However, we believe that development can and should be compatible with protection of our most significant environmental resources. We are therefore concerned about the proposed location of a 200-unit complex at 182 Parker Street, given the importance of the surrounding wetlands and the nearby public water supply to the health and well-being of the town and its residents. Maynard recently passed an overlay district on Powder Mill Road—an MBTA Community zone created by an extensive planning process where exactly this sort of development is encouraged without these concerns. The development incentives for the Powder Mill Corridor passed easily at Town Meeting, and town staff and residents have been working to increase the availability of rental units there, with a particular focus on affordable units in town.
Much as Green Maynard applauds a plan to bring affordable housing to Maynard, we feel that 182 Parker Street is the wrong location for powerful and persuasive reasons. It threatens both the town water supply and the well-being of our wetlands and wildlife.
The location at 182 Parker Street falls within Zone 2 of the town’s crucial wellheads. Historical land clearance and soil disruption from adjacent town development have negatively impacted these wells. Stormwater runoff entering the well’s aquifer from this site will potentially degrade water quality, even with added stormwater systems. Maynard’s current lack of redundant water sources makes it impossible to take a well offline without threatening the town’s water supply.
The proposed development, known as Kanso, at 182 Parker Street also situates the complex in an area with high-value wetlands of significant regional and national importance, home to protected and vulnerable wildlife. These adjoining wetlands are hydrologically connected to the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, a federal refuge designated as an Important Birding Area and a site for several amphibian conservation projects. Consequently, protecting these wetlands is a priority at local, state, and federal levels. The plan proposed by the developer Avalon Bay at 182 Parker Street would not meet the goals outlined in Protecting Land and Ecosystems OG Section 7 Sustainability (3) of the developer’s Project Eligibility Letter (PEL) application.
As Avalon Bay has indicated, the property at 182 Parker Street does not contain toxic substances or polluted sites that require remediation. They detail that this area has been covered with dense vegetation since before 1957. From an environmental perspective, this means the land is optimally performing its ecological functions—providing wildlife habitat, filtering water, sequestering carbon, and maintaining biodiversity.
The buildings would intrude on the 100-foot buffer zone, an area that’s under the jurisdiction of the state’s Wetland Protection Act. The retention basins would be built exclusively in the 50-foot buffer zone, which impedes on the “no disturb” zone outlined in Maynard’s wetlands bylaw regulations. The planned deforestation, digging, grading, and substantial increase in impervious surfaces (estimated by the developer to cover 12 percent of a 32-acre site) would cause irreparable damage to this habitat.
We urge the town to explore alternatives to the proposed development at 182 Parker Street. We also implore the developer to consider the Powder Mill overlay district, where this project could proceed without causing environmental harm, would be in closer proximity to public transit options, and would better serve the current and future residents of Maynard.
— Green Maynard Steering Committee
Comments