Hamilton Planning Board Delays Code of Conduct Vote for Town Counsel Review

HAMILTON — June 1, 2021 — Hamilton Planning Board defers code of conduct vote pending town counsel review. The board, meeting Tuesday, unanimously agreed to hold off adopting a draft code of conduct prepared by member Marnie Crouch after Director of Planning Patrick Reffett said he had forwarded the document to town counsel to verify it does not violate freedom-of-expression protections or conflict with the Open Meeting Law or conflict-of-interest rules. The only formal business completed was approval of May 4 meeting minutes on a unanimous voice vote. A conceptual review of a 40B affordable housing proposal from Harbor Lights — involving design questions around building height and massing — was also pushed to June 15. Reffett reported that the Affordable Housing Trust had received its first requisition, approximately $218,000, from the Tirrell companies against a $500,000 town commitment to an 18-unit Willow Street development, and that environmental consultants had found a commercial overlay district parcel near Gravely Pond largely unbuildable due to wetlands and state-protected habitat.