Dear Natick friends and neighbors:

I am running for a full seat on the Natick Planning Board and I ask for your vote and for your support on March 30, 2010.

The Natick Planning Board is facing a number of high-stakes, complex, and very Natick-specific issues. In the year and a half that I have served on the Planning Board as an associate member, I have been deeply involved in every detail of those and many other key decisions. Today, I am running to become a full voting member of the Planning Board. I ask for your vote on March 30 because Natick needs Planning Board members who are fully up to speed on Natick issues. My priorities and my Natick Planning Board accomplishments make me the candidate who can best serve Natick -- from day one -- as a Planning Board member.

We need to do what we can to enhance downtown and build strong businesses there. Expanding the mixed-use district to the other side of South Ave. to allow those industrial areas to be developed for mixed residential/commercial would be a great start. We need to continue to take advantage of the HOOP overlay districts (which are on land that is already developed) that allow greater density of housing closer to downtown and public transportation. These types of projects make good sense from environmental, economic and human points of view. When people live closer to downtown they want to eat and shop and be entertained nearby, which will continue the cycle of revitalizing downtown.

As opposed to the much disliked 40B projects, Smart Growth 40R projects bring incentive money to the town from the state. Smart development that exercises incentive options from the Commonwealth is a good idea.

And, as an extra bonus, the MSBA awarded us an extra percentage point of reimbursement toward the new high school as a result of my approving (with others on the Planning Board) a Smart Growth project. That extra percentage point equals $820,000 that the taxpayers of Natick do not need to pay into the project.

I'm a big proponent of re-use of land that is already developed before developing undeveloped land. Natick is losing its open/green spaces too fast and I think we should encourage people to re-purpose already developed areas.

I treat every project as if it were being placed right next to my own home. If we lose sight of our communities, we will fall apart. I listen to the abutters and other residents who come to discuss their concerns, and I work with the applicants to get those concerns addressed. I have had some great successes in this area, helping to reduce operating hours of a convenience store in a residential neighborhood and getting a planting plan modified to block the view of a new building expansion (with native species).

Please consider volunteering to help my campaign, and joining my Facebook Group. I am looking for lawn sign placements and people willing to send email to your friends urging them to vote for me.

I look forward to representing you on the Planning Board for the next 5 years.

Thank you for your vote and for your support!

Thanks,

Glen Glater