In addition to the 150-student day care being proposed for Middlesex, another one is in the permitting process as well, this one for 24 students. Both projects were part of the Middlesex Development Review Board agenda for July 23, as The Valley Reporter went to press.
This new, second application for a 24-student day care is proposed for the white ranch-style building that is owned by Planetary Matters as part of the Camp Meade compound. Russ Bennett of Planetary Matters discussed that project with the DRB this week, explaining that it is using its own onsite water and wastewater as well as parking and traffic access.
That day care will be run by Jada Berg and will open as soon as Camp Meade receives a required water system upgrade from the state, according to Bennett. He said that regulatory permitting work had been underway for several months and should take another few months to compete. Berg will start with 24 children and hopes to expand to 40 children at that site.
That project requires site plan review by the DRB.
“We’re proposing this smaller day care as the larger Galaxy of Yes day care works its way through the permitting process because the need for day care is so extreme right now. Both projects are centrally located on the way to and from multiple major population and work centers and both have easy access. It’s an amazing crossroads,” he said.
At that same meeting, Bennett will also be briefing the DBR on a larger day care project, proposed for the Galaxy of Yes property on the former 270-acre Colby Farm, off Center Road. Bennett, a partner in the Galaxy of Yes project, as well as an owner in Planetary Matters, gave the Middlesex Planning Commission an overview of the 150-student day care project last week.
Last week, he explained to the planning commission that Galaxy of Yes wants to build a 30,000-square-foot building to house a day care center as well as office space and four residential units. That project will be the first at the Galaxy of Yes site.
With the DRB this week, Bennett also highlighted some of the other plans for the parcel.
Galaxy of Yes spokesperson Russ Bennett said that the project is being reviewed through a sketch plan meeting – an informal process that requires no formal application but allows for feedback from local officials. For this meeting he provided the DRB with oversize drawings showing some of the future plans for the Galaxy of Yes, including four triplex housing units, a shop building, and other structures, all of which will include residential units.
“The guiding principles are the same. We’re in a crisis situation in our state in terms of day care and housing. We’re committed to working towards solutions,” he said, adding that all development on the parcel will be built to net-zero energy standards and an eye to preservation of open land.
