According to this mornings Projo, 360 acres on Dye Hill Road are on the auction block again. This is the plot of land that was slated for the Bushy Brook development. I never paid much attention to that development but can remember not being impressed. My most vivid memory was a Town Council meeting in which one of the principals associated with the development got upset at John Matson and a yelling fight ensued. Thanks goodness Bev Kenney was there to break it up, clearly that was not the kind of thing she meant when she asked the gentlemen in the room “what’s your pleasure”.
The article goes on to indicate that the most recent use for the property was a proposed subdivision of 110 single family houses for residents 50 and older, plus a bunch of condos. I assume that the large subdivision on Clark Falls road has died of a similar fate as this one, no financing and no one buying houses. All in all, I’m rather pleased. I would prefer we not turn Hopkinton in to the next Cranston, Warwick or Smithfield. Who says the worst recession since the Great Depression isn’t good for something? I would say that killing off shoddy housing developments is quite an acheivement. What the citizenry could not accomplish, economics has handled tidily.
Interestingly, the article mentions that some of the people involved in this property development were the same as those involved with the movie studio. And in 2006, it appears that the developers tried to strong-arm the planning and zoning commission with a lawsuit but failed and their application ended up being rejected. Neither of these facts instill confidence.
