Right Size Hopping Brook!

The Issue

PLEASE NOTE: If you made a donation it will go to Change.org and not to our campaign. We are simply asking for your signature.

Please sign our petition to let the planning board know that we do not want a 550,000-square-foot Distribution Warehouse in our town. We need business in town, but not this kind of business. We believe that huge warehouses need to have direct access to highways so that 18-wheeler trucks are not coursing down Small, two-lane streets in small towns.

The downtown traffic in Holliston has increased substantially since lights were installed downtown. If this project is approved, the traffic situation going west will be untenable, and going east will make a frustrating situation, worse. The developer has told us that all vehicles will be directed to turn left upon leaving the park and that the average daily vehicle trips will be limited to 958. Who will enforce these restrictions now and down the road when they sell the business? Additionally, this business will be operating 24 hours/day, 365 days a year.

Holliston is a quaint, historic town and the noise, emissions, and traffic generated by this project will negatively impact its essential character. In the Envisioning Future Holliston survey, more than 80% of residents who responded ranked “Preserve historic charm, friendly small town feel, and safe, quiet neighborhoods” as very or extremely important.

We hope you agree and will sign our petition ASAP because the hearing is next week.

How Can You Help?

Write: Karen Sherman
Holliston Planning Board
shermank@Holliston.k12.ma.us
Or: Holliston Planning Board
703 Washington Street
Holliston, MA 01746
Contribute to signage: Right Size Hopping Brook
Stay Updated and Contact us at: rightsizehoppingbrook@gmail.com
Join: West Of Hopping Brook on Facebook

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
PROJECT Scope:
CRG intends to develop the property by constructing and operating a 550,000-square-foot distribution facility. This building will measure 1,000 feet by 550 feet, with an interior height of 40 feet. It will have 110 loading docks suitable for the loading and unloading of 18-wheel tractor trailers as well as 160 truck parking spaces. CRG estimates an average of 958 daily vehicle trips, although a building of this size is designed for much higher numbers.

Truck Traffic:
The tenant of this distribution facility is still speculative. The project has been referred to by CRG as a warehouse and as a distribution facility. The traffic generated will depend on how the building will be used. CRG has stated that large trucks will be directed left out of Hopping Brook Road. Future enforcement will be challenging as these facilities change hands often. We are concerned that the traffic congestion along Washington Street will be untenable.

Interior of empty High Cube warehouse

Still 24/7, 365 days a year:
A project with 18-wheel trucks coursing our narrow roads 24/7, 365 days/year is beyond the scope of the original intent for our industrial park.

At the May 9th, 2022 Town Meeting residents voted to amend Holliston’s by laws to exclude operations at night between 8:00 PM and 6:30 AM and warehouse facilities shall not exceed 200,000 square feet.

Holliston is a quaint, historic town and the noise, emissions, and traffic generated by this project will negatively impact its essential character. In the Envisioning Future Holliston survey, more than 80% of residents ranked “Preserve historic charm, friendly small town feel, and safe, quiet neighborhoods” as very or extremely important.

As a group of concerned citizens who have been involved in disputing this project since the beginning of 2020, we want to make clear that we are not against building in an industrial park. We understand that the town needs revenue and accept that a commercial or industrial park can bring traffic, noise, and other unpleasant byproducts. However, with the new proposal of 550,000 square feet, the project’s scale is beyond the original intent of the plan for Hopping Brook Park. The 1998 Holliston Master Plan stated, “As recommended in the 1997 Economic Development Strategy Report, industrial uses should be limited to those that are environmentally friendly and bring the least amount of undesirable impacts into the town, such as increased truck traffic, noise, water and air pollution, and toxic chemicals. High-tech uses, office, research, and other light industrial uses are more desirable.”