Milford Town Meeting votes to set up new storage facility on Old Cedar Street.

MILFORD — Town Meeting members approved a more than $140 million town budget, as well as other measures, but the talk of Monday's annual Town Meeting was about what Milford should do with Old Cedar Street.

Discussion began after the reading of Articles 11 and 12. Article 11 sought to rescind a 2007 Town Meeting vote that would discontinue Old Cedar Street as a public way for a plan that fell through. Article 11 passed, wiping clean the 2007 vote to discontinue.

Article 12 also sought to discontinue Old Cedar Street as a public way, which according to former Special Counsel Gerald Moody, will be redeveloped as a subdivision road.

Old Cedar Street is off the west side of Cedar Street (Route 85), between a Wendy's restaurant and a mini-plaza that includes the Pizza 85 pizza shop and a T-Mobile store. It winds around the back of the plaza before ending at the foot of a trail.

The road is no more than 500 feet in length.

Speaking in opposition to the article, resident James Wheelock, explained that mountain bikers park at the abutting Wendy's year round without opposition from the landowner.

"There is real need for more parking," he said.

Wheelock discussed the possibility of a storage unit facility being developed on the property, along with the need for increased parking in town. A slide show presented Monday night showed a map of Massachusetts Department of Transportation commuter lots, and there were none in the Milford area.

"If you think your responsibility as Town Meeting members is to guarantee the developer has the ability to build a 600-unit storage facility, you can support this article as is," Wheelock said. "But if you think the idea of developing the existing bike path into a loop trail... you might see the value in your team that there is ample municipal parking at Old Cedar Street and the developer can still build a very large self-storage facility."

Michael Visconti, a Precinct 8 Town Meeting member, called Article 12 a recipe for disaster.

"Traffic is not going to get any better, it's going to get worse," he said, calling for an impact study on the proposal while encouraging Town Meeting members to vote no on the article. "Have the folks on Dilla Street not suffered enough trying to get into their homes?"

Moody, also a Precinct 6 Town meeting member, explained there would still be a process if the vote was approved. He said the plan would have to go before the Planning Board and that a special permit would have to be issued.

After discussion, Article 12 was taken to a standing vote and passed, 74-37.

A public hearing scheduled for the application of the three-lot subdivision and a proposed three-story self-storage facility on the discontinued Old Cedar Street is scheduled for June 6.

Milford Town Meeting 2023 breakdown

Article 1: Hear committee reports — PASSEDArticle 2: Amend the wage and salary schedule by establishing new position and salary levels — PASSEDArticle 3: Fix salary and compensation of all town elected officers — PASSEDArticle 4: Approve town budget of $142,940,173 — PASSEDArticle 5: Seven authorizations for daily operations of town government as one item — PASSEDArticle 6: Approve upgrades to the Comcast Verizon PEG access, paid for with the Comcast Verizon PEG access fundArticle 7: Approve money from school vending machines to be spent for student activities not funded in the school department budget — PASSEDArticle 8: Approve $525,428 to fund the first two years of the Milford Police Department's collective bargaining agreement retroactive to July 1, 2021 — PASSEDArticle 9: Fund the first year of the fire union collective bargaining agreement retroactive to July 1, 2022 — PASSED OVER (No action taken)Article 10: Fund the first year of the library union collective bargaining agreement retroactive to July 1, 2022 — PASSED OVER (No action taken)Article 11: Rescind the town's vote which sought the relocation and alternation of Old Cedar Street, which was taken at the 2007 Town Meeting — PASSEDArticle 12: Rescinding the vote from the 2007 Town Meeting which sought to discontinue portions of Old Cedar Street as a public way and discontinue it entirely— PASSEDArticle 13: Allow the Select Board the authority to research, develop and participate in a community aggregate power plan — PASSEDArticle 14: Approve $110,900 to be utilized to fund the Finance Director personal services contract — PASSEDArticle 15: Allow Town Treasurer to withdraw $2 million from the sewer stabilization account to offset partial borrowing for the Field Pond Project — PASSEDArticle 16: Approve $7,376 for the Town Administrator personal services contract — PASSEDArticle 17: Amend zoning bylaws relating to the zoning map and water resources protection district map — PASSEDArticle 18: Approve $55,000 to offset deficit in the Tax Title account for the current fiscal year — PASSEDArticle 19: Amend bylaws relating to Wetlands Administration — PASSEDArticle 20: Approve the funding of the first two years of a collective bargaining agreement with the Milford Waste Water Treatment Plant employees retroactive to July 1, 2021 — PASSED OVER (No action taken) Article 21: Approve the use of electric bikes on bike paths in the town of Milford, as well as the deletion of references to "Rail Trails," adding a helmet requirement for people 16 and younger and adding a 15 mph speed limit for bikes and authorized vehicles — PASSEDArticle 22: Approve $50,000 to be used by Blackstone Valley Regional School District — PASSEDArticle 23: Approve $20,000 to fund the collection and disposal of trash and recycling — PASSED OVER (No action taken) Article 24: Approve spending in order to complete the music/multi-purpose media center in the basement of the Milford Youth Center — PASSED OVER (No action taken)Article 25: Approve the amending of personnel board bylaws that will have new hires start at the minimum rate range. In some cases, new hires may start at a higher rate than the minimum, but not excess of the maximum — PASSEDArticle 26: Approve $220,000 for engineering, consulting and legal expenses for the cleanup of the environmental hazards on town property off the Charles River Trail (behind the Benjamin Moore Company and Sumner Realty Trust) — PASSEDArticle 27: Approve $5,000 for the purpose of planning a dog park in Milford — PASSEDArticle 28: The closing out of Special Article Accounts to the town's general fund — PASSEDArticle 29: Transfer funds between certain line items to make funds available in sufficiently funded through the end of the fiscal year — PASSED.

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Milford Town Meeting redefines road, clears path for storage units