Proposed Asphalt Plant Stirs Up MA Town

Residents in Uxbridge are in an uproar because a developer is attempting to build an asphalt manufacturing plant in town, even though residents voted to prohibit them in 1995. The problem is that no one apparently recorded the 1995 zoning bylaw amendment after it was approved. So the prohibition isn't on the books following the latest amendment of the bylaws in 2011.

UXBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Residents in Uxbridge are in an uproar because a developer is attempting to build an asphalt manufacturing plant in town, even though residents voted to prohibit them in 1995.

The problem is that no one apparently recorded the 1995 zoning bylaw amendment after it was approved. So the prohibition isn't on the books following the latest amendment of the bylaws in 2011.

The Telegram & Gazette reports (https://bit.ly/100XbS2 ) that developer Steven Bevilacqua said he chose Uxbridge after reviewing the bylaws in several towns and seeing there was no prohibition. He told the paper he selected the site because of its strategic location off Route 146.

Residents trying to stop the project have started a petition, and one man argues that since the 1995 amendment was never repealed, it's still in force.

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