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Town Meeting voters established a single-structure historic district at 76 Main St. in reaction to a plan to tear down the Aaron and Lucy Claflin house to make way for a new three-story mixed-use downtown development. Built in the 18th century, “It is one of the four...
A revised plan for a mixed-use three-story building on the property at 76 Main St. now includes a proposal for an underground 30-space parking garage. The property is owned by Paul Mastroianni of REC Hopkinton, LLC and currently is zoned as downtown business....
The Planning Board opened two concurrent public hearings earlier this month on a plan to build a mixed use three-story building on property at 76 Main St. The property is owned by Paul Mastroianni of REC Hopkinton, LLC and currently is zoned as downtown business....
After a public hearing, the Planning board voted to deny its support at Town Meeting for two citizen-generated petitions aimed at restricting town growth. Both of these proposed amendments were discussed at the Planning Board public hearing on March 25. While there...
The Planning Board voted to approve the installation of a solar array on 34 acres of land off Wilson Street, thereby preventing what could have been a costly lawsuit for the town. The 7-1 vote on March 25 reversed the Planning Board’s previous decision, on Oct. 1,...
A contentious March 11 Planning Board hearing on a proposal to install a solar array off Wilson Street ended with no agreement among the participants on what the law requires with regard to permitting solar facilities. The hearing, which was continued to March 25, is...
Selectmen this month unanimously voted to appoint 25-year veteran Hopkinton Police Lt. Joseph Bennett to the newly created position of deputy police chief. Police Chief Edward Lee formally recommended promoting Bennett to the new position at the town Board of...
Kellie Chatten Kenney grew up in Hopkinton and now resides here with her own family. When she heard that Hopkinton was named America’s Safest City by a home safety review company called SafeWise, she was not surprised. The town may have changed a great deal since she...
Voters to decide on restricting town growth For more than a decade, keeping up with the increasing growth in Hopkinton population has been a major concern for town government. While the recent increase in school population has been dramatic, it is only one example....
The town Planning Board will hold a public hearing on March 11 to reconsider the previously denied application by TJA Clean Energy to build a solar facility on 34 acres off Wilson Street. The hearing was prescribed by an order of remand from the state Land Court at...
The Police Department’s recently announced Hopkinton Business Camera Registry (HBCR) actually is part of a community initiative that began a few months ago. “Because we have a lot of new police officers on the force now, I wanted to find a way to help connect them...
A recent headline in The Washington Post warned, “The polar vortex has fractured, and the eastern U.S. faces a punishing stretch of winter weather.” Following a bitter blast of arctic air in recent weeks, the Northeast has experienced dangerously low temperatures....
After a four-month series of public hearings, the Planning Board on Oct. 1 voted to deny a Commercial Solar Photovoltaic Special Permit Application by TJA Clean Energy to build a facility on 34 acres off Wilson Street. On Dec. 4, the applicant filed an appeal to that...
The town Parks and Recreation Commission, at its Dec. 10 meeting, voted 5-0 to relocate a proposed dog park from the town-owned Hughes property off Hayden Rowe Street to town land on Fruit Street. Last year’s Town Meeting voted down funding for a dog park on the...
The Community Preservation Committee held its first hearing Oct. 18 to consider 17 proposals for what is so far more than $556,000 in requests for money available under the Community Preservation Act. After about an hour of preliminary discussion among CPC members,...
The town Planning Board held a continued a public hearing Oct. 29 for the Whisper Way Open Space and Landscape Preservation Development (OSLPD) subdivision plan application by Ron Nation, 20th Century Homes. Last December the Planning Board voted to approve a maximum...
Legacy Farms Developer Roy MacDowell met with the town Planning Board Oct. 15 to seek guidance on completing a section of sidewalk on East Main Street. The section to be completed starts at 83 East Main St. and continues to the town’s athletic field parcel located...
Turnout was slim, but animated, at a public forum held earlier this month by the Hopkinton Historic District Commission on the proposed expansion of the Center Historic District. The Oct. 11 meeting was the second of what will be three public forums on the proposal....
Hopkinton Fire Chief Steve Slaman sat down with the Hopkinton Independent earlier this month to talk about staff changes and challenges ahead for the Fire Department. As for changes, Slaman was in the process of hiring the second of two new firefighters, which will...
During the eight months since the Independent first reported on the local impact of China’s crackdown on recycled materials from the U.S., single stream materials recovery facilities such as E. L. Harvey & Sons in Hopkinton have been attempting to adapt to the new...
