Nixon Road Development Gets OK To Proceed To Planning Board

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A long-running proposal to build a housing development along Nixon Road could soon be in front of the Planning Board. Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer on Friday gave a developer permission to submit an application to build 24 units of age-restricted housing on a large parcel east of Callahan State Park.

The issue stretches back nearly 20 years. In 2001, a developer sought a special permit to build 24 condominiums on 32 acres at 45 Nixon Road. The development would use a septic system and a well since there's no public water supply in the area.

In 2004, the then-town planning board denied the application, and the developer, Nexum, sued. The matter eventually made it to the state Appeals Court in 2011, where the judges upheld the planning board denial.

In 2013, Nexum and the Planning Board reached an agreement where only eight units would be built on the site. But the developer sued over the conditions of the deal. That suit was settled in 2017.

Since 2017, the state Department of Environmental Protection has approved a plan for a well on the site. The new developer, South Middlesex Realty Group (SMRG), also proposed building a new type of septic system pioneered by a New Hampshire company.

SMRG formally asked Spicer to review plans for the well and septic system as part of a pre-application process. The city held public hearings in October and December over the plans, and accepted written feedback from residents living near the parcel.

Spicer's decision this week means that the larger project still has to go through the traditional route, beginning with the Planning Board.

"The mayor determined, after reviewing all of the submissions at the hearing and listening to the presentations of the applicant and comments and concerns expressed by the residents, that this approval, again subject to compliance with all future performance and technical requirements that may be issued by the Planning Board, Board of Health and other agencies or authorities with permitting or oversight jurisdiction, is in the best interests of the residents of Framingham," the mayor's office said in a statement.