Projects in Permitting
Tihonet Mixed–use Development
In 2003, Wareham Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly in favor of creating a Business Development Overlay District in the area west of Tihonet Road. The A.D. Makepeace Company is now in the process of filing paperwork that will start the state permitting process for a portion of the Business Development Overlay District.
Our permit applications will focus on what we are calling the Tihonet Technology Park. This encompasses approximately 50 acres in the northern section of the Business Development Overlay District. We will seek state approvals to construct 150,000 square feet of research and development facilities, stressing that the final layout will be subject to market demands and, of course, local permitting.
The Business Development Overlay District is part of a 6,000-acre contiguous parcel owned by the A.D. Makepeace Company in Wareham, Plymouth, and Carver. The development is subject to a “special review procedure” established by the state Secretary of Environmental Affairs. This procedure assures that local residents and town officials have adequate opportunity to review and comment on the development of the Tihonet Technology Park, as well as future development plans for this large parcel.
The company chose to focus on this portion of our property because it is the one element where (a) market conditions warrant development and (b) local approval for necessary zoning changes has already been approved. It is clear, from the two Town Meeting votes over three years, that the commercial component of our development enjoys widespread support from local residents.
The paperwork we file with the state will address the development potential of other portions of the Makepeace property. This development requires additional approvals by Wareham Town Meeting and all of Wareham’s local regulatory boards before we can proceed, and the public will have ample opportunity to comment. We fully expect the buildout of the parcel to take 25 years or more.