Janice Skelley and Patti Coen
October 25, 2005
We are asking the Zoning Board to deny the appeal for a change of use permit at 517 Winter St. for the following reasons:
The Dover Amendment provides that: “No zoning ordinance or by-law shall…prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures for religious purposes or for educational purposes on land owned or leased by …(the commonwealth or any of its agencies, subdivisions or bodies politic or by a religious sect or denomination, or by) a nonprofit educational corporation;”
SMOC does not appear to be an educational corporation. A letter which appears in SMOC’s annual report, written by SMOC’s President, states the following: “The range of services that we provide has grown to include Child Care, Women’s Protective Services, Substance Abuse, Energy and Financial Assistance, Shelter Programs, Economic Development and Advocacy, Mental Health, Women, Infants & Children, and Elderly Nutrition as well as our separate Non-Profit Housing Corporation.” These are all needed programs, but they do not define SMOC as an educational corporation.
SMOC’s annual report also states: “The South Middlesex Opportunity Council, …is the federally designated Community Action Agency for the greater MetroWest and Blackstone Valley areas.” Community Action Agencies are not educational corporations.
Another quote from their report states that “this advocacy has resulted in the creation of a continuum of programs that strike at the problems that most seriously affect poor people and keep them mired in poverty. They include programs addressing emergency shelter for the homeless, transitional and permanent housing, employment training and placement, substance abuse services, mental health services, women’s protective services, nutrition, energy and weatherization, services for the elderly, day care and preschool education, youth services as well as community organizing around housing, health care, rising energy costs and banking services”. There are only two programs mentioned that are primarily educational, and those are employment training and preschool education. These two programs do not define SMOC’s primary purpose as being an “educational corporation”. It is our belief that the purpose for the program at 517 Winter St. is primarily a transitional, residential program with substance abuse services.
There are further questions that need answers before a permit should be granted. If SMOC defines their organization as an educational corporation, then are their clients considered students? If so, should they be required to abide by the Education Reform Act of July, 1993? This act includes a code of conduct which requires educational institutions to immediately notify police departments if their students are violating any of the seven mandatory reportable acts. These acts include being in possession of a controlled substance, or a prescription drug that is being distributed or used in an illegal manner, and being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
SMOC has also stated that the town of Framingham could be discriminating against those with disabilities who are protected by the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act clearly defines handicapped persons as those persons with… “drug addiction, other than addiction caused by current, illegal use of a controlled substance.”
We strongly urge our government officials to closely examine whether SMOC is actually an “educational corporation” and whether the primary purpose of the program sited for Winter St. is actually educational, or in reality a multi-family drug rehabilitation residence sited in a neighborhood zoned for single family residences.
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