Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

Town meetings have got to be the worst possible way to decide on anything. It's taking the worst of ordinary public meetings - that mostly loud, angry, privileged people show up - and giving them voting power. You miss out on both functional direct democracy and representative democracy.
 
The EGE said:
Town meetings have got to be the worst possible way to decide on anything. It's taking the worst of ordinary public meetings - that mostly loud, angry, privileged people show up - and giving them voting power. You miss out on both functional direct democracy and representative democracy.
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I don't hate it in theory, but the current setup effectively disenfranchises all but the most dedicated and least preoccupied. If we care about continuing what is really a uniquely New England form of governance, we'll need to modernize it somehow and I don't necessarily think a move to representative town meetings are really the way to do it in most cases. What's really necessary is for attendance to be encouraged and for society to be adjusted for more people to be able to attend, and for people not physically present to be able to vote.
 
Not to mention when it comes to housing community meetings are done development by development. So not only does someone need to know about a specific development being proposed, they then need to know the specific date and the time and location where they can go to either speak out in favor or against.

How many average people even know these meetings take place? Let alone where and when the meeting about a specific building is taking place. Then on top of all of that if in the very rare case someone actually knows a meeting is taking place, they need to choose between their own time after work or going to this meeting that only covers 1 project. If they really are pro development theyd have to go to each and every different meeting for each different building every day of the week. Thats a huuuuge ask for a random person to do. not to mention each building has multiple different meetings and takes multiple years to go from proposal to construction, IF its even allowed to get built after all of that.
 
I don't think a Millbury station would be that useful unless Worcester leans hard into redeveloping the Route 20 corridor. Right now there's not enough density along Route 20 or in East Millbury to get decent walk-up ridership, and a park-and-ride wouldn't have much benefit compared to the existing Worcester and Grafton stations. I'd rank it below Faneuil, Newton Corner, and downtown Ashland and Westborough stations on the Worcester Line alone.
 
The EGE said:
I don't think a Millbury station would be that useful unless Worcester leans hard into redeveloping the Route 20 corridor. Right now there's not enough density along Route 20 or in East Millbury to get decent walk-up ridership, and a park-and-ride wouldn't have much benefit compared to the existing Worcester and Grafton stations. I'd rank it below Faneuil, Newton Corner, and downtown Ashland and Westborough stations on the Worcester Line alone.
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I agree that more development on Route 20 is a likely prerequisite to a station in Millbury. But on the other hand, a station in Millbury would provide better access to the Pike than any other station on the Worcester Line, which would be a big draw since the Worcester Line lacks a convenient park-and-ride off the Pike.

It's too bad they didn't build the Millbury stop alongside the other infill stations in the early aughts.
 
During environmental planning in the 90s, they looked at access either from 20 or 122:

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The 20 site was chosen:
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Ridership was estimated as <150 daily riders, of which <20 would be Millbury residents (though those projections substantially underestimated Worcester, Grafton, and Westborough). The MBTA effectively dropped it due to local opposition in 1996; the town approved the station in a nonbinding resolution in 1997, but by that point the MBTA was focused on the other stations.

DEIR: https://archive.org/details/worcestercommute01mass
FEIR section: https://archive.org/details/worcestercommute00mass_1

I can see the potential utility of a Pike-serving station. But how many people is it actually going to serve? Even among potential supercommuters, the Auburn-Oxford-Webster and Auburn-Rochdale-Charlton corridors have access to both Worcester via I-290 and Grafton via 20, with no tolls. Same for the 146 corridor (including Millbury itself) via 146 and 20.
 
www.miltontimes.com

Driscoll on changing MBTA status

Speaking to Milton Town Meeting, state Senator Bill Driscoll said he is still seeking reclassification for Milton in regards to MBTA Communities Act requirements, and that remaining a “rapid transit”
www.miltontimes.com www.miltontimes.com
 
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