SLCA Q&A re Patriot Partners
ARTICLE 10 ZONING BYLAW, CRO and RO
to CD
125, 131 and 141 SPRING STREET
To request the Town to amend the
Code of the Town of Lexington, Zoning By-Law sections and the Zoning Map of the
Town of Lexington, by changing the zoning district designation of the land
described in a certain written metes and bounds description (Appendix 6) on
file with the Planning Board, from the current CRO Regional Office District and
RO One Family Dwelling District to a CD Planned Commercial District with
certain specified uses (pursuant to the provisions of Town of Lexington Code
§135-42), said property being commonly known and numbered as 125, 131 and 141
Spring Street (former Raytheon Corporate Headquarters) to allow construction of
a new building(s) for office and laboratory uses and to act in any other manner
relative thereto. (Submitted by PM Atlantic Lexington, LLC, the property owner)
DESCRIPTION: The proposed amendment
would rezone the former Raytheon headquarters
property from the present CRO
business and RO residential districts to a Planned Commercial
Development District. This would
allow for approximately 271,600 square feet of new space to
be constructed on the 95.8 acre
site, together with additional parking and a declaration of
conservation
easements over portions of the site.
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SUMMARY OF
REZONING (Data provided by Patriot Partners):
Total
annual property tax revenues from our project when fully built out to be
$1,680,975 compared to $743,250 today, an increase of $937,725. The completed
project is expected to also generate $378,000 in annual personal property taxes
for a total of $2,058,975
in annual taxes. Annual service costs are estimated at $473,700 for a net
annual revenue of $1,585,275. This is estimated to add as much as $10 million in increased local
bonding capacity.
·
Stay
within 0.15 FAR requirement
·
Focus
on less intense, laboratory use – We have a signed lease for 125 Spring St to
convert it to lab. We have a signed letter of intent with a 23,000 sf lab user
for a portion of the lab building at 131 Spring St.
·
Provide
public access to pond and open space at rear of site In exchange for the
rezoning of the six acres of residential land on Shade Street we will create
“restricted open space” which will prevent any building in the zone. We also
intend to provide public access to this land, subject to security concerns of
any potential future tenant. This
caveat was a concern in case we ended up with a large security-conscious
tenant, such as Raytheon. Since we are already committed to a multi-tenant
scheme, this possibility now seems remote.
·
Help
fund off-site traffic improvements We have submitted a traffic study with our
Preliminary Site Development and Use Plan which commits us to continue to fund
police officer traffic control at Spring St and Hayden Ave, when warranted. We
also commit to contribute $100,000 for the design and construction of
improvements to the intersection of Spring St. and Marrett Road. It also includes a Traffic and
Transportation Demand Management Plan which calls for numerous traffic
mitigation measures including continued financial support for LexPress and continued
membership in the 128 Business Council. We have proposed measurable traffic
targets, which if not met, would require us to provide a direct shuttle bus
between our site and the Alewife MBTA Station. In fact, when we are more
fully-leased, we expect to provide this shuttle as a convenience to our
tenants, whether or not we are required to do so.
Planned Development Request
·
Re-zone
residential land to PD (Planned Commercial District), which under our plan
would be essentially CRO with the following changes:
·
Allow
approximately 9’ increase in height restriction for one of the new buildings
·
Permit
50% coverage for roof top mechanical equipment
·
Permit
bio-tech manufacturing in compliance with Federal, State and local laws,
regulations and ordinances governing air pollution, water pollution control,
noise and illumination.
Questions:
Question
1:
What
benefits would approval of this rezoning bring to the town?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
-
Increased
tax dollars (see above).
-
Corresponding
increased bonding capacity (see above).
-
Removing
land along Shade Street from the possibility of multi-family development.
-
Probable
public access to open space and pond.
-
Complies
with .15 FAR.
-
Focus
on lab users means fewer vehicles than office use.
Question
2:
What are the impacts of this development?
Answer:
There
will be increased traffic from the site of between 192 and 346 vehicle trips in
peak hour, and between 1,204 and 2,308 total daily trips from the site to
Spring Street. Many of these trips will be to and from Rt. 2. See Patriot
Partners’ traffic study for details.
Question
3:
Would
rezoning result in a greater traffic impact than the development allowed
without rezoning?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
The
amount of proposed development is the same with or without the rezoning, with
the exception of the proposed change to the 6 residential acres. However, since
we do not know to what use these might be put, i.e. 40(b) multi-family, the
impact might be the same.
Question
4:
If rezoning is approved, can Patriot Partners change their
design at a later date?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
“We intend to proceed with the plan as we
have designed it. However, we need to be responsive to the market and have
therefore outlined “development envelopes” within the site, where we could
locate buildings. This mechanism gives us the flexibility to accommodate a user
with a different design need. However, we would not exceed the .15 FAR
requirement.”
Question
5:
If
so, how would these allowed changes compare to those allowed without rezoning?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
Without
the rezoning we could make any changes allowed under the current zoning,
subject to site plan review. Answer based on a summary of CRO zoning in the
Code of Lexington: The current zoning of CRO would allow most office or R&D
uses with the exception of retail and manufacturing. CRO does allow limited
manufacturing to support R&D.
Question
6:
What is likely to happen if the
rezoning is not approved?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
If
the re-zoning is not approved, we would be unable to count the existing
residential land towards our Floor Area Ratio, and therefore, would build
approximately 40,000 sf less for a net increase of 237,000 sf which would still
remain within the 0.15 FAR. Since we are not residential developers we would
likely sell the 6 acres to the highest bidder. Since lab users require more
roof-top equipment, we would seek special permits to increase the roof-top
percentage from 25% to 50% as is allowed by law. The 9 foot height increase is
primarily aesthetic. Without it we would have building entrances at different
grades, but its absence wouldn’t impact the amount of development. We are
seeking to allow biotechnology manufacturing on the site, consistent with the
Commonwealth’s stated desire to encourage such facilities as beneficial to the
economic health of the state and local community. In fact, none of the 30 plus
potential users we have spoken with intended to manufacture at our site.
Question
7:
Will
the proposed bio-tech activities present a biohazard to the town?
Answer from Patriot
Partners:
No,
these activities will not pose a hazard to the Town. Work will be performed
within facilities built for this use. The fermentation processes involved in
biomanufacturing are similar to those used in the fermentation of beer. The
difference is that the final product is a therapeutic, rather than an alcoholic
beverage. Recombinant DNA activities at the site will be approved by the
Lexington Board of Health under the Town’s existing permit procedure.
Activities are performed according to the Federal NIH Guidelines. Waste removal
is subject to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health State Sanitary Code
and Massachusetts Solid Waste regulations.
Over the past twenty-five years, a history of safe use has been
experienced in communities much like ours.
Question
8:
What
prevents Patriot Partners from allowing hazardous activities such as
bio-weapons?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
No
research, development, or biomanufacturing activity that requires Level 4
Containment under the NIH Guidelines will be contemplated for the site. The
same Board of Health regulations that currently permit recombinant DNA work in
laboratories will also serve to control this work. We will work with the Town
to assure that a competent Lexington Biosafety Committee is available to work
with the Board of Health.
Question
9:
Has
a traffic study been done and what effects on the town are expected due to
additional traffic?
Answer from
Patriot Partners:
We
have agreed to:
-
Maintain
police officer traffic control at the intersection of Spring Street, Hayden
Avenue, and the Lexington Technology Park entrance during peak periods if and
when volumes meet the Peak Hour Signal Warrant criteria
-
Contribute
$100,000 towards the design and construction of improvements to the
intersection of Spring Street, Marrett Road and Bridge Street
-
Contribute
$10,000 per year to Lexpress
-
Participate
in the 128 Business Council
-
Undertake
numerous other measures, the results of which would be monitored and held to
performance standards, which if not met, would cause us to increase our
contribution to Lexpress and/or to run our own shuttle bus.
We
welcome your comments
and corrections.