Potential new housing project discussed in Marion
New housing could come to the site of the former Lockheed Martin facility. File photo
New housing could come to the site of the former Lockheed Martin facility. File photo
MARION — Four years after Lockheed Martin closed its operations in Marion, a developer has proposed a housing project on the site of the facility, located at 7 Barnabas Road.
Sippican Holdings attended a presubmission conference with the Planning Board on Monday, April 7 to discuss plans to potentially convert the structure the town rents as a Town Hall Annex into apartment units.
The Zoning Board of Appeals granted the developer a variance allowing for the building of residential units in an industrially-zoned area.
Planning Board member Ryan Burke said he and fellow board members believe this zoning must be approved by Town Meeting before the developer can build.
“We felt that zoning change needed to go to town meeting, which is standard for change of use for zoning purposes, but the ZBA did issue a variance for that property.” Burke said.
He said this preliminary meeting was a first step in a process that could result in new housing in Marion, but the developer must go through an application process first. This could include site reviews and requesting special permitting.
While the timeline for the project is unclear, Burke said time is ticking on the developers zoning variance, with a soon-expiring deadline.
“It could be weeks, it could be months,” he said. “Their variance has an expiration date if they don't start the process, so I suspect it'll move forward fairly soon.”
