My first Plymouth home as an infant was on Nelson Street next to Benny’s Plaza in North Plymouth. The store was a favorite of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins until it closed. From children’s toys and bicycles to nylon stockings, Benny’s had the best prices.
My mother was at home when she moved to Nelson Street. My great grandfather started his business, L. Knife and Son, in North Plymouth, eventually moving to Hedge Road with a store at the corner of Route 3A and warehouse at the end of the road. The family business provided well-paying jobs and a sense of family for the hundreds of immigrants from Northern Italy and the Azores settling in Plymouth during the second wave of immigration starting in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They faced discrimination but found a home in North Plymouth as they started businesses and families here. Our family has provided a free place on Hedge Road for the Thanksgiving Parade to build floats for decades.
Today, North Plymouth is being exploited by reckless development proposals. The loss of the “smokestack” at the Cordage Company, where many immigrants worked, was a wake- up call for the slow chipping away at the community and historic character that makes North Plymouth unique.
Kudos to the many residents who showed up to voice their concerns to Cabot, Cabot and Forbes at the North Plymouth Steering Committee [meeting] on Aug. 14.
I oppose the dense development of about 140 apartments at the end of Hedge Road in North Plymouth. I am one of about 30 family members with ownership of the Hedge Road land where Pulte Homes wants to build. Pulte has a purchase and sale agreement with the price dependent upon the number of apartment permits the town will grant. My ownership share is about 3.5 percent, and I have no control over the sale or use of the land. A corporation, not me, controls the land. I’ve advocated for the family to conserve the land for years.
My life’s work has been advocating for conservation and helping residents gain access to justice to raise their concerns about the pollution of our water and reckless development. The Benny’s and Hedge Road proposals for hundreds of apartments will overwhelm North Plymouth’s infrastructure – transportation, water and sewer – and deprive this neighborhood of the benefits of open space. They do not fit within the neighborhood character and negatively impact residents’ quality of life in the near and long terms. Let’s be more creative and tie these land uses into their neighborhoods.
Instead of spreading false information about me, town officials should be working with the people, not against them. I urge residents to continue to hold the Select Board, Planning Board, building commissioner, and Zoning Board of Appeals accountable to you – the voters and residents, not the developers. Let’s protect our quality of life, environment and history – before it’s too late. AD Makepeace’s Redbrook, the atrocious sand mining operation on Route 3 posing as “land preparation” for a commercial building – and more. Another sand mining operation is proposed for what is supposed to be the Cedarville Conservation Preserve. Come to the Planning Board public hearing on Sept. 11 and speak out. Enough is enough.
– Meg Sheehan
Sheehan is a volunteer lawyer with the Community Land and Water Coalition.