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Norton Select Board urges senator to move state land-transfer bill toward final approval
Summary
The Select Board voted to send a letter to Sen. Paul Feeney asking for support as House Bill 5,561 advances in the Senate; the measure would transfer long-idle MassDOT and Fish & Game parcels near I‑495 for industrial/redevelopment or sale, a project Norton has pursued for more than a decade.
The Norton Select Board voted July 9 to send a letter asking Sen. Paul Feeney to support state legislation that would transfer dormant state parcels near the I‑495 interchange to enable town-led redevelopment or sale.
Select Board member Bob Kimball summarized a multi-decade effort to prepare the site—rezoning it for industrial/commercial use, negotiating prior land swaps with state agencies and acquiring a 10.4-acre town parcel that remains landlocked. He told the board House Bill 5,561 had passed the House on July 6 and was awaiting action in the Senate.
"The house favorable action marks a significant milestone, but the work is not yet complete," the board’s read letter states, urging the senator’s leadership in moving the measure to the Senate floor. The board voted unanimously to send the letter.
Kimball recounted prior meetings with state representatives dating to 2014, and described how MassDOT and the state fish-and-game agency have proposed land swaps that could free the bulk of the corridor for development. He noted the town has already rezoned the affected land to industrial and has set up intersection and access plans intended to ease future development.
Board members discussed potential zoning and easement issues if Fish & Game retains or swaps parcels adjacent to the Canoe River. Speaker 6 raised the possibility that the Fish & Game parcel the town was negotiating for might need future rezoning and cautioned about conservation adjacency to the river. The board agreed to add the bill reference number to the letter before sending it.
Town Manager (Speaker 2) and others said they would coordinate with legislators and state agencies as the bill advances; the board asked staff to transmit contact information and the signed letter to Sen. Feeney’s office. No formal land transaction or change of ownership occurred at the meeting—action taken was the board’s vote to send a support letter to the senator as the bill proceeds through the Legislature.
The Select Board also asked municipal staff to continue monitoring the parcel status and potential easements for the town-owned 10.4-acre parcel, which currently lacks public access and remains landlocked until the larger transfer or swap transpires.
