Striking out the language added to (the footnote of an attachment to) the Zoning Bylaw would revert to the previous zoning prior to 2022 Article 7 which prevents ANY Commercial development to be introduced into residentially zoned areas without going through rigorous town review and approval processes .
The current bylaw from 2022 sets a precedent that commercial development may be allowed in residential areas at the discretion of the Planning Board if the town passes a similar type of bylaw or adds another district to the existing. Such is unsettling for residents who invested their fortunes and futures in Dedham under the belief that their residential neighborhoods were stable and immune from commercial intrusion. SRA (Single Residence A) zoning District, and all residential zoning districts, have specific bylaws to insure residential integrity of the neighborhoods. With just 3 letters (ie. SRB) amended to the existing bylaw, another residential district could easily be subject to Planned Commercial Development at the discretion of the Planning Board.
The 2022 bylaw change provided a work around to bypass some of these protections as well as discount some goals & strategies set forth in the Dedham Master Plan. Town Meeting Members voted in 2022 without having all of the available information available to them. (ie. Town Counsel flagging this a potential conflict with Mass Zoning Uniformity Laws (spot zoning), a bypassing of proven standard town processes, reduced protection of residential zoning, a conflict of interest, no interpretation of long term enforcement, an alternative solution)
As a side note, the project area formerly was all single residential lots that were consolidated by the developer and approved by the Planning Board a few years prior to the 2022 bylaw being brought to Town Meeting