Select Board hears Deaconess proposal for Newbury Court overlay, neighbors press for setbacks and affordability guarantees

The Select Board met May 12 to hear Deaconess Abundant Life representatives present revisions to a proposed continuing-care retirement community overlay district and to discuss outstanding items that residents want fixed before Town Meeting.

The exchange matters because the board is considering whether to enter a memorandum of agreement with Deaconess ahead of a citizen-initiated zoning article, and neighbors said the current draft does not yet protect abutters’ concerns about scale, setback and the availability of affordable units.

Deaconess representatives described changes they say respond to abutter feedback. The presenters said landscaping and larger setbacks were added: a 40-foot setback from Old Marlborough Road for townhouse buildings and a rule that “the setback in feet would have to be twice the distance as it is high” for multiunit structures, which the presenters said is intended to provide additional buffering. Mark Bobrowski, a project representative, said the landscaping standard “shall at a minimum comply with the requirements of section 6.2.9 of the bylaw.”

Residents at the meeting said those changes do not fully address visual scale and traffic concerns. Jim Jackson (44 Old Marlborough Road) told the board that “if it becomes 40 feet off the road and it's a big complex, our property values go right down the toilet,” and asked the developer to shift building massing farther from the neighborhood. Other speakers pressed for clearer limits on unit types and sizes; attendees said drawings shown to neighbors featured units and building footprints they feared would feel “industrial” rather than residential.

Select Board members and Deaconess representatives also discussed taxes and affordability. A Deaconess presenter said the organization has historically paid taxes on its campus and “expects that’ll be the the future on the new parcel.” Residents and several board members asked for concrete, enforceable affordability standards. Matt Johnson, speaking as a resident and member of Concord housing groups, urged the town and Deaconess to adopt rules that account for applicants’ assets as well as income, noting that retirees with large asset pools can appear to qualify under standard AMI thresholds even when the goal is to preserve access for lower-wealth older households.

Developers and their counsel told the board that several items the neighbors had requested were moved from any MOA into the draft zoning language so they would be enforceable: landscaping, the 40-foot Old Marlborough Road setback, a density cap derived from a 16-units-per-acre limit in the draft, and language on freestanding independent living and multiunit massing. Deaconess said it circulated the revised draft to abutters earlier the same day.

The board asked for time to continue negotiations and signaled that an MOA will be worked on in parallel with the zoning article; there was no formal vote. Select Board members emphasized that any MOA or agreement should include measurable affordability commitments and that the town needs clarity on how property tax revenue would flow if the project proceeds.

The Select Board scheduled continued review; Deaconess was told the board would expect clearer affordability formulas and tighter language on setbacks/landscaping before the board considers endorsing any agreement or taking a formal position.

Ending: The Select Board did not take a final vote; members said they will continue negotiating the MOA language and asked Deaconess to provide concrete affordability metrics, a clearer site plan showing the revised setbacks, and confirmation of tax commitments ahead of Town Meeting.