Letter to the editor: People of Upton

At November’s Special Town Meeting, we are being asked to add 150 housing units to meet the requirements of the MBTA Communities Housing state mandate. The Planning Board wants us to place these homes in the front of the already approved GL 100-unit development on Route 140, the entrance to our town and beautiful historic center.

This brings a potential of 500 cars entering and exiting the development onto route 140 often during rush hour. Route 140 is hilly, visibility is an issue, and cars go fast. This concern was a major one previously for Governor’s Landing approval and should be discussed for this project. Traffic all along route 140 will be impacted including our downtown and the traffic lights at Maple Ave.  

The downtown area is being quickly densified: GL development (100/127-units) 40B(60-units), and now an additional 150 units in the same area? The increased car traffic would be +620 cars.

How many people know about this project? There is no information available on line. This was proposed at a planning board meeting and then quickly approved. This is a fundamental change to the look of our town, without a public information session, and we are being asked to vote at a sparsely attended special town meeting, not the annual when attendance is high.

This state mandate encourages towns to provide housing for people to take the train to work to meet climate goals and keep more cars off the road. Trains are in Ashland, Westboro, and Grafton- We need to find 10 acres in Upton nearest to these train stations and spread the newer development around different parts of the town.

East Street fits all the goals of the law: quick access to the highway and three trains stations and Milford, help with the additional housing, have little impact on the town, and will bring new tax revenue without fundamentally disrupting the historic small-town feel and entrance to our town. 

Putting all the new developments, with dense footprints in a small area next to and in the center of town will change everything. Vote no or choose to pass over. We need to find a better place for a new development for 150 units on 10 acres. 

Submitted by Cathy Taylor - Upton resident