To the Editor:

The 1,000-plus petitioners voicing opposition to the proposed CVS project have an opportunity to convert their signatures to votes at the May 11 Annual Town Meeting by supporting the zoning change proposed by warrant article 43.

This bylaw is designed to help preserve Marion’s aesthetics and character as a rural seaside community and its historical and cultural heritage. It will encourage responsible commercial and retail development especially along Marion’s Route 6 corridor.

Big Box and formula driven business models such as the recently proposed CVS project can negatively impact the quality of life in a small community like Marion. The adverse impact of such big box development can be mitigated by zoning regulations limiting the size of the projects built.

This zoning amendment regulates the intensity of the foot print size for commercial development. At this time, Marion has no zoning regulating project footprint size.

This proposed bylaw caps the footprint size of commercial projects in the general business district to the greatest of 5,000 square feet or 10 percent of the lot size. The cap’s minimum allows for development of lots an acre or less. All other zoning bylaw regulations still apply.

The size of this cap reflects the need for balancing the interests among landowners, developers and the community to allow commercial growth consistent with protecting Marion.

Dec. 18, 2014 was the date of first publication of the notice of the Planning Board’s public hearing on this proposed bylaw. This is a very important date for Marion and stabilizing the intensity of the size of Route 6 development. Any developer having a statutory qualifying development plan in place before this publication date is entitled to freeze current zoning in place. The town cannot change the zoning rules once the development plans become known. If a developer does not have such a qualifying plan in place any plans submitted to the Planning Board after the first publication of notice will be governed by any zoning changes adopted.

At this point in time, the proposed CVS project may be in disarray. If the developer cannot meet the statutory requirements for a zoning freeze and article 43 passes then any future development of the corner of Route 6 and 105 (the Hadley House corner) will be subject to the new project foot print size zoning restrictions.

At the Music Hall Planning Board meeting the CVS developer proposed a 12,900 square foot building. This is the CVS formula business building size as published on its website. The project lot size is 77,537 square feet. With the 10 percent project footprint restriction in place CVS would only be able build a 7,754 square foot project inconsistent with its formula business plan. This is a significant negative for CVS and its developer. A CVS developer business decision would have to be made to accept the smaller building footprint required by the new Marion zoning or move on to a different location.

Marion cannot keep out big box formula business such as CVS or any other formula business because residents do not like such business. This is clearly against well-established law. It’s no different than trying to exclude individuals from town due to nationality or income.

Big box and formula business control is lawfully accomplished by size limitations and regulation on how such business look, present and promote projects to the town as to design and appearance. Well drafted formula business regulations can limit business from developing projects that by designs, size, finishes, landscaping and the like are used to promote a specific business or product brand. “Yes formula business you’re welcome to our town but we are going to regulate your size and how you look.”

Failure of article 43 to pass will mean the loss of the valuable restriction now in place with the December 18, 2014 first publication date for future developer zoning freezes.

The Planning Board’s master plan bylaw subcommittee has drafted three proposed zoning bylaws. These drafts completed in February have not yet ripened to the point of acceptance by the full Planning Board for a recommendation to Town Meeting for a vote. The first zoning bylaw relates to controlling commercial building density and unfortunately was not ready for this May’s Annual Town Meeting. The second bylaw dealing with the control of formula business and a third bylaw dealing with the control of delict buildings and blight have yet to be fully vetted by the board and required public hearings.

At this juncture, passage of article 43 can be viewed as a moratorium on big box formula business such as the proposed CVS project. This zoning bylaw will restrict the size of development on Route 6 and stabilize the town from robust big box development until the Planning Board has worked thought the details of the three bylaws relating to density, formula business and blight satisfactory to the Planning Board and a favorable Town Meeting vote.

Note: Developers can obtain zoning freezes lasting three, five or eight years depending on the statutory protection elected for qualifying development plans to preserve vested property rights from being changed by town zoning amendments. (MGL c.40 A, s.6)

Ted North,

Marion