Framingham City Council Approves FEDC Development Plan, Delays Clarks Hill Zoning Vote

FRAMINGHAM — May 19, 2026 — Framingham City Council unanimously approved the Framingham Economic Development Corporation's first Priority Development Areas plan, targeting five city sites for redevelopment, while deferring a vote on the long-pending Clarks Hill zoning amendment over a procedural dispute. The FEDC plan, covering the Pearl Street Garage corridor, the Route 135 Waverly Street corridor, the Speen Street and Old Connecticut Path office district, Saxonville's Concord Street, and the Route 9 Tech Park and 990 Office Park area, passed 11-0 following a presentation by FEDC executive director Rick McKenna and board treasurer Dennis Cardiff, who said redevelopment of the Pearl Street Garage could generate close to $1 million in new annual tax revenue. Councilor John Stefanini, who made the motion, said Framingham "lags way behind Marlboro, Natick, and Waltham" in new growth and called the plan "the potential for a lot of development." The Clarks Hill vote was pulled after Councilor Edgardo Torres Bryant objected that a revised Memorandum of Understanding had been submitted the same day, telling the council she "cannot overlook the violation" of asking members to vote on documents they had not had time to review; a motion to table failed 1-9 but Chair George P. King held the vote over to the next meeting under a separate charter provision.