Hamilton Planning Board Continues 133 Essex Hearing, Defers Blast Plan to May 17

HAMILTON -- May 3, 2022, Hamilton planners continue 133 Essex senior housing hearing amid truck route and blast disputes. The Planning Board voted 6-0 to carry the public hearing on a proposed 50-unit senior housing development at 133 Essex Street to May 17, after nearly three hours of testimony on a disputed haul route, competing truck-trip estimates, and stormwater review. Engineer Brent Cole of Granite Engineering accepted most peer-reviewer Elizabeth Ransom's stormwater comments but rejected turbidity-testing and pre-construction inspection requirements as unnecessary for the project type. Contractor John Durkin defended a figure of 4,324 loaded trips, roughly 8,648 total truck movements, based on a 50 percent rock-swell factor, while Ransom's team put the number higher using different weight assumptions. Several board members and a Cutler School parent raised alarms about the proposed route along Miles River Road and past two elementary schools, prompting the board to refer routing to the town's DPW and traffic officials. Landowner Brian Rich told the board the project would contribute $2.174 million to Hamilton's Affordable Housing Trust, what he called the largest single donation the trust has ever received.