Questioning Studio Impact
by Kathryn Koch - WickedLocal.com

PLYMOUTH - Members of the Committee of Precinct Chairs and the Advisory and Finance Committee asked some of the most pointed questions to date about the future of Plymouth Rock Studios at a meeting where there was overwhelming applause for the movie studio project.

Committee of Precinct Chairs member Paul Luszcz and others raised questions about the timing of a vote that would set the stage for the development of Plymouth Rock Studios on 1,000 acres in South Plymouth that’s owned by the town.

Luszcz said he said he wants more information on the impact on Bourne Road along with answers to other questions raised by a precinct chair subcommittee and doesn’t think six weeks before a vote in June will be adequate time. He’s concerned there would be no need for a further vote of Town Meeting for approval of the studio project beyond the June vote.

“This would be all the legislative approval you would need,” he said.

Plymouth Rock Studios has spent approximately $4.5 million on the project. Bill Wynne, founder of Bison Investments, an international development company that will take the lead in development of the studio, said the town can believe that the studio will be accountable and work to meet all conditions set during the approval process.

Wynne said Plymouth Rock Studios has been in contact with six major financial lenders at the top of their field about financing for the project and is committed to building in Plymouth, if the town wants it.

“We have no problem with accountability,” he said. “If we say it, we’re going to back it up. We’re going to back it up financially.”

Town officials expect to vote in June on articles rezoning the 1,000 acres and authorizing the Board of Selectmen to negotiate the conveyance of the land by transfer or lease to the studio. Town Meeting, which starts Saturday, April 5, would be continued to June.

Wynne said one roadblock would be if selectmen pursue a lease instead of a land transfer giving the studio clear title to the land. Plymouth Rock Studios wants to open by 2011.

“We will not agree to a lease,” he said. “It has to be a pure conveyance.”

Plymouth Rock Studios Managing Director David Kirkpatrick said the state-of-the-art studio that would be like no other in the world would generate a ballpark of $5 million in taxes a year. The assessed value of the buildings at full buildout would be $450 million, or the same assessed value of 38 Home Depots, and the assessed value of the land would be $50 million.

Plymouth Regional Economic Development Foundation Executive Director Denis Hanks said the first phase of the studio project alone, assessed at $350 million, would increase the town’s total commercial assessed value by 50 percent. All the commercial property in town has an assessed value of $700 million.

Director of Planning and Zoning Lee Hartmann has been working on a draft of proposed zoning changes that would create a special permit process for development of 300 of the 1,000 acres exclusively by Plymouth Rock Studios, with the remainder to be left as open space. Members of the Committee of Precinct Chairs asked to see a final draft in time for an adequate review.

With one-third of the Town Meeting representatives up for re-election in May, Precinct 5 Town Meeting representative Pat McCarthy said, she’s worried that turnover will result in people who are not as familiar with the project having the ability to vote, making it premature to vote in June. She said she’s concerned about traffic on cut-through roads in Plymouth, and she also wants some of the 1,000 acres, possibly about 80 acres, set aside by the town for a new school.

“I don’t want to see the future generation of Town Meeting members go out and buy land because we gave away the land,” she said.

Planning Board member Paul McAlduff, a member of the Plymouth 1000 Citizens Advisory Committee appointed by selectmen, challenged those who questioned the timing of the vote, quickly approaching the front table and demanding to know why most of the panel hadn’t made the attempt to attend the regular public meetings of to learn more about the project.

“Where are you?” he said.

With so many people around the state losing their jobs, McAlduff said, the town desperately needs the 2,000 jobs the studio would bring to Plymouth.

Precinct Chairs member Janet Young responded that she’s offended that anyone would say they are not committed to the town and reminded McAlduff that they are volunteers who have to devote their time to all the town’s business that goes before them.

Planning Board member Loring Tripp said he has concerns about potential conflict of interest, particularly by members of the Committee of Precinct Chairs and Town Meeting representatives with close ties to the Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, the holder of land bordering the 1,000 acres.

Tripp challenged Precinct Chairs Chairman Bill Abbott to fully disclose his role of founder and Wildlands Trust advisory board member and to consider whether he should recuse himself from voting, even if there’s just a perceived conflict.

Abbott dismissed Tripp’s challenge as ridiculous.

Selectman David Malaguti said in his 30 years in government he cannot recall a project where everyone had all the answers. He said the town has a competent planning staff in addition to oversight by town boards to protect the town’s interests.

“You snooze,” he said, “you lose.”

Luszcz said the precinct chairs are asking the questions that need to be asked and are not trying to stop the project.

“We simply have the responsibility to determine if the method we use going forward is best,” he said.

Plymouth Rock Studios officials spent an hour introducing the project to the Committee of Precinct Chairs and the Advisory and Finance Committee, including plans for an interchange on Route 25 that would direct traffic directly onto the studio property. Ken Caputo of the engineering firm Coler & Colantonio, representing the studio, made the same presentation to the Plymouth 1000 Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday night.

Caputo said the preferred option would incorporate a bridge design called a trumpet similar to Exit 7 off Route 3 that would keep 90 percent of the traffic on Route 25 with direct access to the studio and 10 percent of the traffic on local roads, including Bourne Road.

Town Manager Mark Sylvia said the Old Colony Planning Council will conduct a study on the potential impact on Bourne Road.

Caputo said the interchange would impact the bordering towns of Bourne and Wareham as well, with MassHighway committed to improving traffic to the whole area.

“It’s not going to be a driveway to Plymouth Rock Studios,” he said. “It has to have some regional value.”

Caputo said MassHighway wants to get input from the public into the interchange proposal and has requested that the town hold a public workshop.

Selectman Chairman Dicky Quintal, chairman of the Plymouth 1000 Citizens Advisory Committee, said the public meeting has been tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at either Plymouth South Middle School or Plymouth South High School.