Hamilton Planning Board backs Casey Ryder as associate member in unanimous vote

HAMILTON -- April 20, 2021, Hamilton Planning Board unanimously recommends Casey Ryder as new associate member and reviews 10-unit Habitat for Humanity affordable housing plan. The board voted 5-0 at its April 20 meeting to forward Ryder, a risk management professional at Boston Private Bank and Trust, to the Select Board for final appointment. In a separate conceptual review, Essex County Habitat for Humanity executive director Megan O'Neill and project lead Don Preston presented plans for 10 deed-restricted homeownership units at 434 to 438 Asbury Street on a 4.75-acre site, targeted at buyers earning 40 to 60 percent of area median income. The affordable housing trust has committed $400,000 toward land acquisition, and the Institution for Savings has issued a financing commitment letter. Town Planner Patrick Brown will prepare a formal site-plan recommendations memo for the Zoning Board of Appeals, with drainage peer review and fire access road width among the board's flagged concerns. A second 40B proposal from Harbor Light Community Partners at 455 Asbury was postponed to the May 4 meeting.