Morse Street Rezoning Voted Down At Town Meeting

NORWOOD, MA — Car storage was among the top topics of discussion at Monday's Annual Town Meeting.

Starting with the Special Town Meeting Warrant, voters rejected a proposal for a zoning change. Article 4 called for changing the zoning of four parcels of land, including one off of Morse Street from manufacturing to general residence. The proposal was a response to a plan from Boch Automotive, which applied for a special permit to store 800 cars on land on a lot in the discussed area. The owners recently applied for an "Approval Not Required" plan, which freezes zoning for three years.

David Hern, who spoke as an attorney for Boch Automotive and not as the town moderator, said the article was about fairness.

"Every keeps exaggerating what's going on," Hern said. "This is about some people who would like to take the property out of the control of the property owner who owned it for decades, who paid the taxes he's been asked to pay, and having someone else decide how the property should be used. It's something we don't do in Norwood."

While some residents supported the article, arguing that it would protect the area from more truck traffic and pollution, the article failed 61-101, with opponents stating that the article was done against the wishes of the lot owner.

Article 1, which addresses open lot storage of vehicles, was postponed indefinitely and Article 5, which would make it a requirement to obtain a license for an open air parking storage area, was approved on a voice vote.

Article 2 to establish a new associate planning board member and Article 3 to add manufacturing: asphalt, cement and bituminous concrete and commercial enterprise: rock crushing and processing, cement, and concrete crushing to the manufacturing, processing, and related uses in the zoning bylaws passed.

Town Meeting continues 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.

Image: File Photo