Form + Place: Update on Urban Planning Work

2022 has emerged as a year filled with a diverse and exciting collection of urban planning projects at Form + Place. While we continue to work on a wide range of residential projects and some commercial mixed-use place-making efforts, it is our urban design and planning sector work that is rapidly growing, allowing Form + Place to forge new collaborations and explore new community contexts.

In Springfield, we recently completed a Master Plan for the Northeast Downtown District that called for re-visioning the Chestnut Street corridor into a two-way mixed-use spine, in addition to other key public realm improvements, as a means to stimulate private investment. We continue to explore a range of planning studies in this fascinating area around Union Station – the perfect location for more dense transit-oriented development - including work in the Apremont Triangle and Stearns Square areas.

We also continue to work with the City of Newton’s Planning & Development Department as one of their Urban Design On-Call Consultants. Our current efforts have been focused on helping the city review Mark Development’s Schematic Design drawings for the Riverside Station project. The Riverside Station approvals calls for a “consistency review” process whereby evolving building design and site design parameters are checked against Special Permit requirements and a set of comprehensive Design Guidelines that were drafted by Form + Place and adopted in the fall of 2021.

 In addition to these ongoing efforts, we currently have three exciting new urban planning projects on the boards:

Groveland Comprehensive Plan              

Form + Place has been collaborating with Emily Innes of Innes Associates to produce a Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Groveland, MA. The project is ramping up in the month of May with three community outreach workshops scheduled for the week of the 9th. Our team is taking a “place-based” approach – utilizing 3 key sites - to explore the usual Comp Plan elements - Land Use, Open Space & Rec, Housing, etc. We have structured the workshops to help explore the community’s goals through specific thematic lenses, such as gateways, connectivity, place-making, and balancing development and preservation.

Hull Urban Renewal Plan            

Form + Place is currently working with the Hull Redevelopment Authority to help refine the vision for the HRA-owned parcels in the Nantasket Beach Redevelopment Area. On a critical site that has the potential to link two distinct neighborhoods within the Hull community, and also has major resiliency issues to contend with, Form + Place is building on previous studies that have attempted to frame the “ideal” public-private redevelopment opportunity. Working in conjunction with TEC, who has been integral in exploring infrastructure improvements along Nantasket Avenue and Hull Shore Drive, we are striving to help the HRA define the appropriate character and scale for development in the area while ensuring the preservation of key public open spaces.

Winchester’s North Main Street Corridor            

Form + Place has recently been retained to work with Winchester’s Planning Department and Planning Board to help with the implementation of a refined vision for the North Main Street corridor, which links the downtown core to the Woburn city line. Winchester’s recent Master Plan 2030 and its associated Action Plan, together with a corridor study completed in 2021 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, have provided a strong starting point, identifying the corridor as an Evolving Opportunity Area. North Main Street has an eclectic mix of uses today and suffers a lack of cohesiveness, including an over-abundance of auto-centric uses – a problem common to many similarly-scaled communities in the inner ring areas around their Center Business Districts. Form + Place looks forward to working with the town to explore a wide range of variables, from strategizing regarding infrastructure improvements to rethinking zoning and design guidelines, in an effort to enhance this critical gateway to the downtown.