Framingham Planning Board Hears Farm Pond Redesign, Opens Downtown Housing Review

FRAMINGHAM -- June 18, 2026, Framingham Planning Board hears Farm Pond redesign is unfinanceable, continues downtown housing case to July 23. Developer Chuck Berman, co-founder of AvalonBay Communities, told the board Thursday that the approved 250-unit project at 6375 Fountain Street cannot attract financing due to rent-control threats, rising interest rates, and new state passive house requirements costing an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 per unit, and presented an informal redesign reducing the floor-area ratio from 2.1 to 1.61, dropping the building a full story, and raising the unit count to 267. The board also unanimously approved four actions: endorsing ANR plans for 78 Wing Street and 231 Central Street, and lifting the $100,000-a-year parking attendant condition at the Sunnyside cannabis dispensary at 250 Worcester Road after Cresco Labs Vice President Christian Fakara said the attendant "sits in his car throughout the duration of our hours of operation." A new public hearing for 48 downtown units by VTT Framingham Renaissance LLC at Concord and Kendall Streets was continued to July 23 after board members questioned whether the all-one-bedroom units, 40 of 48 running to 1,100 square feet with two bathrooms and a den, are being labeled one-bedroom to hold down the parking count.