Save the Thoreau Business District

I have lived on Thoreau St. for 34 years. The Thoreau/Sudbury intersection is already a nightmare. This change in zoning will only make it worse!

Listen to the residents of Concord. No one is pushing for dense development.

More appropriate for vacant lots in Worcester that needs density for transit. Some infill housing would be good.

While an update to this area would be nice, it cannot happen without input from current residents. The proposed changes seem like they would make for a congested, crowded area, which would make shopping downtown harder.

I strongly oppose the proposed rezoning application as presently written. The significant redevelopment that will result will overwhelm the neighborhoods in and abutting the Thoreau Business district and substantially degrade the quality of life, and safety of residents who live and shop there. Rather than building and strengthening the Concord community it will only succeed in undermining it. Concord can and must do better.

I am all for improving and future business opportunities but I feel in a different location in concord would be better

Thanks for getting this info out there. I am a pretty regular reader of the Concord Journal but never saw anything about this. This would be a devastating development for Concord. Why don't these things ever get build on Monument Street?

Out schools can't handle all these new students. The traffic this will create will be terrible.

This type of zoning has no place in a small town like Concord. Smacks of big developers pushing their own profit motive/greed over small town values. Planning Board MUST back off any support for such radical actions. This is Historic Concord. We are perfectly fine without such radical/irresponsible thinking.

This is a bad plan. It will result in a town different from the one I moved into in 1969.

This will alter the beauty and character of our town and compound a congestion issue that already exists in that area.

We need Crosby’s local market, a hardware and a drugstore. Please keep goodwill drop off, public parking for train, provide public park for seating and wildlife … all these are part of our daily usage as residents. Maximum 2 stories high, less density, more nature and open space for residents and visitors to use to make Thoreau street a place to enjoy! This plan has nothing to blend with Concord’s historical, environmental and philosophical culture and is disrespectful of residents and visitors. Simply no!

I used to take pride in my feeling that Concord was a well-run town whose management respected its special and historic character. I have lost that feeling as I have seen projects approved that satisfy only the greed of developers and a very few others, at the expense of degrading quality of life in the town for the rest of us. Examples: #1- that monstrosity Concord Market that got built on a much too small lot. #2-that residential development cluster that got built off Rte 62, that was originally going to be accessed via Keuka Road, now called something else. In that case, several acres of lovely wildlife habitat, adjacent to wetlands, were destroyed- for what?? This rezoning of Thoreau St. is surely the opening gambit for something much bigger and worse, in terms of degrading quality of life for current residents, by destroying historical feel, increasing congestion further, and removing some of the last "real" and useful businesses we rely upon.

I am a smart growth fan but this feels insensitive and way out of scale.

we must reject this zoning bylaw for a number of reasons, many already expressed (i.e. would ruin our small town feel, traffic would be problematic, fewer people are commuting into offices due to COVID, et al). I plan to attend the meeting on 12/14 and post a LAWN SIGN in our front yard.

The problems with this proposal are so numerous and egregious that it is hard to believe that the planning board would even consider the residents of this historical, environmentally sensitive small town would support. Attend the planning meeting on 12/14 and stop this totally destructive proposal.

Developer greed and Planning Board laxness will doom this small scale and friendly neighborhood.

There are so many creative ways of adding useful opportunities to our city. The proposed plans show none worthwhile and undermines current and future potential to remain a unique and treasured community. Don’t graft unsuitable models on to these historically deep and vital roots. Allow for Concord to move it’s personhood, into an even deeper and more expansive richness.

I strongly feel that this development will overwhelm our town center and change the character of the depot area.

Not against change, but we need to make sure Concord keeps it’s charming character and doesn’t become overly developed. There are plenty of empty storefronts and buildings downtown to find use for.