Plan Approved: "I guess the point is it was good enough for you but you don't want anybody else in."

To everyone who signed our petition.

Thank you for your show of support and voicing your opinion about how you want your town to look. Unfortunately, the Board approved the plans without any changes. We were told that they had spent months negotiating for us, even though during that entire process the Board did not ask a single abutter about how changes could address the concerns of the neighborhood.

Additionally, the plans and the town bylaws were reviewed by our attorney and he identified multiple places where the buildings in the plan violated the setbacks defined in the bylaws. He wrote a letter to the Board identifying these issues and citing MA case law supporting our claims. The Board ignored this input and refused to consult with town council on the matter. Their reasoning was that the Building Inspector said the plans met the bylaws and "the building inspector is God".

It seemed that at least one member, Mr. Bonugli, saw the reasonableness of the changes we were requesting and made a motion to continue the hearing until January to try to resolve some of the issues. No one seconded his motion and the plans were approved 5-0.

We expressed the concerns that we had heard directly from YOU -  that Middleton is developing too fast, that roadways and infrastructure are over-taxed, and how Middleton is becoming a city. Mrs Popielski addressed these concerns with the following comment: "[Middleton] is not a city. It is far from a city. But I'll tell you something. When the largest landowner in this town starts selling, and he's starting to sell, this town is going to blow open and then it will be a city and I will be the first one out of it before you people; because I like the way; that's why I moved to Middleton." Minutes later she voted yes to this development.

Two members of the Board specifically addressed the petition and I want to quote them fully for you.

Mr. Tierno: "I have just one other point, and I appreciate the sentiment behind it and the work that went into it. I also have to recognize the fact that we don't work by petition. We can't. It's not practical to work a planning board, a zoning board, that's why we have town meeting, that's why we have elections, that why we have elected town officials. Three hundred people signing a petition, it gets the point across I get it, but that's not governance. That's not governance."

Mrs Popielski said: "I did look at the names on the petition, and I can honestly say that some of these people who have signed have lived in new subdivisions that were created by this Board. And if this Board hadn't created them you wouldn't be a resident of this town, so..." Mr. Tierno: "That's a good point." Mrs Popielski: "I guess the point is it was good enough for you but you don't want anybody else in."

The whole video of the meeting is here: https://middletonma.gov/CivicMedia?CID=Planning-Board-11