The McCabe Enterprises project team (l-r) Ruth Loetterle, Carolina Carvajal, and John Amodeo of CRJA-IBI Group; Kathleen McCabe of McCabe Enterprises; Sarah Raposa, town of Medfield; and John Shevlin of Pare Corporation / photo by Beverly Kunze
Medfield, MA – The American Planning Association, Massachusetts Chapter (APA-MA) and the Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors (MAPD) have awarded the 2018 APA-MA Planning Project Award to the Medfield State Hospital (MSH) Strategic Reuse Master Plan.
Kathleen McCabe, AICP, and Jennifer Mecca, RA, of McCabe Enterprises led the project team. McCabe Enterprises led the town of Medfield through a planning process to create a guide for the reuse and rehabilitation of 39 historic buildings, plus a suggested 661,000sf of new construction on a 128-acre campus overlooking the Charles River.
In addition to McCabe Enterprises, several other firms supported the planning process. Carol R. Johnson Associates (CRJA)-IBI Group assisted the team to evaluate land use and redevelopment, green infrastructure, and how the development of open spaces could spur new investment in the community.
Pare Corporation provided engineering services. Paul Lukez Architecture prepared conceptual design. Project Management & Cost was responsible for cost estimates for the proposed public facilities. The Consensus Building Institute facilitated the planning process.
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The MSH Strategic Reuse Master Plan is unique in its use of a “Monte Carlo” analysis to balance the priorities and desires of the community with the economic and financial objectives of the town.
The plan evaluates the impacts on school and municipal services, the effects on property tax rates, and the potential for profitable development from the investor’s perspective.
Additionally, the draft zoning is based on a 40R framework but is customized to work within Medfield’s special permit process to allow for strategic growth. The MSH Strategic Reuse Plan balances the desired development and density with the anticipated tax revenues and the local municipal fiscal impacts. The Committee developed a three-prong financial test for the plan – “is it workable for the private sector, for the Town, and for the Medfield taxpayer?”
