Ann Strong is a former town council member, former planning board member and former member of the town's conservation commission, and she believes the town's comprehensive plan is to blame for allowing the future construction of high-density housing on Nockum Hill.

"As far as land use, it's an awful document," Ms. Strong said of the comprehensive plan. 

Ms. Strong said the plan did not do enough to block affordable housing developments on Nockum Hill.

"That was the tension between keeping the land open and those who thought these high-density developments were going to save the world," she said.

The Residences at the Preserve is not the first high-density development to be proposed for George Street and the Nockum Hill area.

In 2010, the town and the cemetery commission paired up to purchase property at 139 George St. Officials planned to divide the land — some of it would be used for a new cemetery while the remainder would host a town-sponsored affordable housing development. 

But that changed a short while later when residents raised concerns about Nockum Hill and the proposed Residences at the Preserve project. 

With the town fighting against one affordable housing project on George Street (the planning board denied the application for Residences at the Preserve), officials and residents began questioning the appropriateness of a second development — one that would be town-sponsored. 

In June 2014, the council followed the recommendation of the housing board and the sentiment of residents and voted unanimously to remove the land at 139 George St. from consideration for future affordable housing developments. 

That vote may have come too late, however.

"That really opened the door for this development," said Ms. Strong.

Ms. Strong said there is little that the town can do now to slow or stop the construction of the Residences at the Preserve. She said her biggest hope is that the project be developed with careful consideration paid to the abutters and surrounding environment.

"Something will be built on it," she added. "It's been determined by the court."

Ms. Strong attended last week's planning board meeting where officials discussed a possible modification of the plan. The developer pitched the idea of constructing 22 single-family structures on the 6.8 acres, instead of four multi-unit buildings.

Ms. Strong said she preferred the plan calling for the four multi-unit buildings because it includes more green-space. 

Development details

Ron Chofay's company, North End Holdings, LLC, has already received state approval on a plan to build 24 housing units in "multifamily structures" on George Street. The approved plan features four buildings with six housing units each. 

But recently, Mr. Chofay approached the planning board with a slightly different proposal. The new plan calls for 22 single-family detached houses on the George Street property. 

A letter from the developer's attorney, William Landry, requested the meeting with the planning board so that members could discuss how the approved plan could be "modified" to the new plan.

Instead, the Jan. 2 meeting served as a sounding board for concerned residents about the potential impact of a high-density housing project on George Street. 

And the planning board, meanwhile, said the prior plan was "less distasteful" than the newly-proposed 22 single-family houses.