FRAMINGHAM – The Planning Board’s proposal for Framingham’s MBTA Community Law compliance includes zoning a parcel in Nobscot at a higher density than most of the city, allowing the equivalent of five Buckley apartments (Franklin St.) or six Hamilton Village complexes (School St.) on 37 acres along Edgell and Edmands roads.
That decision was made even though one goal of the law is to “reduce reliance on single occupancy vehicles.” It is hard to argue that Nobscot is a place where people are unlikely to use private cars if they can afford one – especially after the city declined to add bike lanes or improve pedestrian streetscapes during the recent Nobscot intersection project.
Hamilton Village in Saxonville has approximately 182 housing units, according to 2020 U.S. Census data, while The Buckley has 202. The Planning Board wants to allow 1,104 units by right in Nobscot as part of its plan.
There would also be an additional 162 units at the old Saxonville Lumber parcel, almost doubling apartments in the overtaxed intersection of School and Concord Street. Already, vehicles trying to drive from Concord, School, and A streets lead to situations where some cars can’t move when they have a green light because of backups further up.
The state’s MBTA Community Law requires the city to create zoning areas for multi-family housing at a density of 15 units per acre (see City Proposes Zoning to Add 1,104 Housing Units in Nobscot, 162 in Saxonville for details). However, the Planning Board decided to propose zoning areas of the city for 30 units per acre - twice what is required.
The map below show areas of Framingham which had 30 or more housing units per acre as reported in the 2020 U.S. Census (before some of the newer multi-family housing in Framingham came online). Areas are divided into blocks as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Analysis is mine. A second map is below
Very few areas of the city had 30 units or more per acre, including downtown, as of 2020. Here is a more detailed look at housing densities:
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