Melone Property Sale and Town Center Land Exchange Finalized
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Quarry North’s Cold Brook Crossing to be located at 16 & 36 North Road in Sudbury.
Just over two years since the Select Board signed the Land Disposition and Development Agreement, the property sale and land exchange between Quarry North Road LLC and the Town of Sudbury has been fully executed. During the week of March 8, 2021, the land disposition documents were recorded at the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds, officially transferring the approximately 37-acre property at 16 & 36 North Road from the Town of Sudbury to developer Quarry North Road LLC. In exchange for the land, the Town received approximately 42 acres of land in the Town Center (formerly known as the proposed Sudbury Station Property) as well as over $2,000,000.
“This project represents reduced impacts to Sudbury’s historic core in terms of loss of open space, loss of integrity to our historic town center, cemeteries, and traffic in the town center and provides potential long-term benefits for Sudbury through annual tax revenues and mitigation funds,” explained Select Board Chair Janie Dretler. “In addition, Sudbury has acquired a beautiful piece of land adjacent to our historic town center which connects to acres of other Town-owned land as well as the future Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.”
The Town Center property, over 40 acres located off Concord Road behind the town cemetery, had been the site of the proposed Village at Sudbury Station housing development. The Sudbury Station Comprehensive Permit application, filed in 2016, proposed construction of 250 rental units, a clubhouse and associated infrastructure. Access was proposed from Concord Road at Peter’s Way (the driveway entrance to the cemetery near the intersection with Candy Hill Road) and at 30 Hudson Road. The application met heavy local opposition and was in litigation.
The Melone Property, 36.7 acres on North Road (Route 117), was acquired by the Town in 1992 and had operated as a gravel pit throughout the 1990’s. The property had been underutilized as gravel operations had ceased, and in 2018, after conducting a comprehensive procurement process (RFP) to determine the best reuse for Melone, including Town staff, board/committee and public input, the Select Board chose the proposal from Quarry North Road LLC as the most advantageous in September of 2018. Later that year, Town Meeting voted to approve the Melone Disposition, and, on February 28, 2019, the Select Board signed a Land Disposition and Development Agreement with Quarry North Road LLC. The Agreement gave the Town $1,000,000 and the Town Center property (the proposed Sudbury Station site) in exchange for the Melone Property.
Quarry North’s 274-unit residential project, known as Cold Brook Crossing, was reviewed and approved by the Planning Board in August of 2020 as being consistent with the votes taken by Town Meeting and Zoning Bylaw regulations. From preliminary meetings to the final decision, the permitting process took over six months, including reviews by a multitude of Town departments and consultants. The property closing and land exchange was then able to proceed in March of 2021.
Adam Duchesneau, Director of Planning & Community Development, stated, “This project and its associated transactions are the culmination of literally years of hard work by numerous Town officials, staff, and volunteers. The extensive review process the development went through as part of a formal public hearing with the Planning Board was the final step in advancing this project. However, leading up to this, the project was heavily scrutinized, reviewed, and modified based upon countless numbers of comments, negotiations, and assessments. At the end of the day, this project will be a win-win for both the community and the developer for a variety of reasons, but probably most importantly it will help to somewhat ease the housing crisis at the local and state levels.”
Cold Brook Crossing, the first and only MGL Chapter 40R housing development in Sudbury, brings multi-family affordable housing to North Sudbury for the first time and will allow the Town to stay above the state mandated 10% affordable housing threshold until 2030 or beyond. Site work is expected to begin in late March or early April of 2021, with completion of the project estimated within two to three years.
“It is impressive to see the collaboration and results of our community boards, committees and commissions, professional staff and the Town of Concord regarding this project,” said Sudbury Town Manager, Henry L. Hayes, Jr. “I’ve taken particular note of the safety considerations in effort to ensure the proper response is empowered for the residents of that area. This includes the portion of the property that is within the jurisdiction of Concord. All parties involved have done a tremendous amount of work to get us to this point. I’m excited about our future!”
In addition to the land in the Town Center itself, the Town will also be receiving $1,000,000 for the sale of the Melone Property, $1,000,000 in mitigation funds for the Town to use at its discretion, several hundred thousand dollars in Building Permit fees, and further financial considerations from the state’s MGL Chapter 40R Program, once the Cold Brook Crossing development is completed.
The newly acquired Town Center land is open to the public.
Click on the hyperlinks below to learn more:
Cold Brook Crossing Development – Development located at 16 & 28 North Road. Former site of Melone.
Melone Property Disposition – Property located on North Road which was formerly the site of a town-owned gravel operation.
Sudbury Station Development – Property located in town center. This formerly proposed project has been withdrawn. The property is now town-owned as a result of the Melone Disposition land exchange.