BCAT News

The following is a letter to the editor and does not necessarily represent the opinion of BNEWS. 

Dear fellow residents,

As a resident who lives within a Planned District Development (PDD) in the town of Burlington, I have witnessed the building of a 270-unit apartment building (The Reserve) and the conversion of an office building to a lab building over the last decade. I wasn’t a fan of the two projects; however, some of my fears regarding traffic and the environmental impacts have not yet been born out. The lab building at 10 Corporate Drive has never been occupied. A good reason for not having to deal with hazardous waste in the PDD and no traffic impact. However, this could be one of my future fears if Burlington High School adopts the lab as their classroom.

The apartment building is a different story. I expected higher traffic, but I didn’t expect the positive impact working from home would have on the traffic in and out of the PDD. We only have one exit from our PDD with a light onto Cambridge Street. Although I am retired and don’t venture out into traffic as I did when I worked, I have never had more than two cars in front of me at the light. The seventy-five owners of the PDD have never complained to me (past board member). I am in favor of the Mall Road Mixed Use Development. This document attempts to maintain our tax base and add life to the land of asphalt. The future of Burlington is in the hands of our town meeting members.

James McNiff