Applications to pave the way for the proposed Luck Farm Market on the west side of Ashland are up for public hearings before the Ashland Planning Commission Wednesday, August 10, 6:00 p.m. in Town Hall.

This development is wrong for this area because it is now mostly semi-rural residential. The application batch includes planning gymnastics of comprehensive plan amendment, a rezoning request, an ordinance change and two conditional use permits (CPA2022-03, REZ22-0414 & ORD2022-04, CUP22-0627A & CUP22-0627B) in order to cram Luck Farm Market next to a rural conservation residential area, a pre-school and a care facility. The Market, if approved, would then occupy a 3.6 acre parcel of what is now open space buffer.

The loss of green space, the increase in traffic, additional noise and light pollution, increase in impervious surfaces, loss of a soft transition between suburban and rural — all of these are palpable environmental and aesthetic changes that do not advance a good quality of life. No amount of proffers would make this square peg fit into a round hole.

Moreover, the residents living in the rural conservation community of Luck Farm deserve better than this retrofitted commercial development. They bought into the community, among other things, on a concept of quiet, rural character.

Hardening of a current gentle transition between suburban and rural is unwelcome.

Filed under: Uncategorized |