Open Space and Recreation Plan - Town of Natick

Draft 9-16-11
Long Term Development Patterns
Natick’s zoning map is attached as Map 2, and an aerial view of Natick is attached as Map 2A.
Until the early 2000’s, most of Natick’s single-family housing was built in areas with zoning
requirements ranging from 12,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. The most significant recent
developments have taken place in South Natick in residential zoning of 40,000 square feet (one
acre). Some of these subdivisions have opted for the Cluster Development provision, which
allow a greater number of total units, in exchange for leaving at least 30 percent of the total land
area as preserved open space. In recent practice, the Planning Board has negotiated as much as
50 percent preserved open space.
Natick’s commercial and industrial zoning is concentrated in two parts of town: The “Golden
Triangle” area, defined by Route 9, Route 30, and Speen Street, is zoned for commercial or
industrial uses. Additional commercial zoning continues east along Route 9 to the Wellesley
border. The second area is downtown Natick, which constitutes a “Downtown Mixed Use
District.” This zoning allows a mixture of uses, including single and multi-unit residential,
commercial, and offices. Additionally, on the downtown’s north edge are two small industrial
zones, in which lie some of the remaining brick factory buildings from Natick’s industrial past.
Natick continues to be a prime location for a number of prominent and sizable commercial
businesses. These include Cognex, Whitney Place, and the expansion of Natick Mall, now
known as the Natick Mall.
In recent years, there has been more neighborhood activism and more efforts by Town boards to
preserve some of the open spaces that neighborhoods have enjoyed for decades. New projects
could continue to deplete the amount of available open space, particularly interconnecting
greenways necessary to biodiversity. Natick’s Planning Board and Conservation Commission
and their staffs work with developers to preserve interconnecting stretches of open space and
trails.
On December 3, 2002, Natick Town Meeting adopted a Zoning Bylaw to provide developers
with a Comprehensive Cluster Development option, permit them to build more housing units in
large parcels, in exchange for providing 10 percent of the units as affordable housing, and
leaving 50 percent of the land as protected and publicly accessible open space.
In 2003, Town Meeting adopted a Housing Overlay Option Plan (HOOP) overlay zoning district.
This provision, which applies to two districts in downtown Natick, allows more intensive
housing development provided that a minimum of 12% of the resulting units are affordable along
with certain other requirements. The HOOP includes incentives for the creation of open space. In
2008, Town Meeting created a Smart Growth Overlay (SGO) 40R district. Plans for the first 40R
housing project, located on the former site of a paper reprocessing facility, have been approved
by the Planning Board.
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