Saxonville has some great neighborhoods, but unfortunately, traffic and development threaten them.

In particular, Old Connecticut Path has been subject to a series of heavy traffic generators.  In the early 1990’s twenty odd towns were bringing truckloads of yard waste to create the mother of all compost piles at the New England Sand & Gravel site.  Then when neighbors and the Board of Health protested and ended that stream of trucks, the MetroWest Water Tunnel Project came along. 

Hundreds of trucks bearing equipment and gravel and tunnel rock were a daily sight along OCP for years.

Then the Planned Unit Development or PUD, with its (whittled down to) 525 units on the NE Sand & Gravel site, threatened to bring in more construction vehicles and later, residential traffic from PUD residents.  Neighbors, and the tanking economy, halted the PUD for the forseeable future.

Now there is the proposed concrete plant, that Paulini Loam wants to build behind Suburban Shell and near the cherished Reardon Park and hard fought for Cochituate Rail Trail.  The traffic from it could significantly impact OCP. 

So far the neighbors and Town have been able to fend off requests for a permit to build the plant.  But Paulini isn’t taking “No” for an answer and continues its quest working through a special permitting process with the ZBA. 

Residents are urged to attend the ZBA meeting on Dec. 9th and to sign the online permit at:  http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-special-permit-for-concrete-plant.html

One thing we do wonder about:  What happened to Save Our Towns, the group of Framingham and Wayland residents that were so intent on fighting the PUD because of the impact to the neighborhood?  This project could have a major impact on many of the same people affected by the  PUD.