Hamilton Planning Board Hears Pre-Application for 50-Unit Chewbacco Senior Housing Project

HAMILTON -- March 6, 2021, Hamilton Planning Board takes first public look at 50-unit senior housing proposal on Chewbacco Road. Attorney Jill Mann presented a conceptual plan for Tobacco Capital Partners LLC's proposed age-restricted development at 133 Essex Street, featuring 50 single-family and duplex units on roughly 66 acres, with about 40 acres dedicated to open space and a conservation restriction. Developer Larry Smith told the board the project would generate approximately $735,000 annually in property taxes, a one-time payment of about $350,000 in fees, and a $1.5 million contribution to the town's Affordable Housing Trust in lieu of on-site affordable units, a structure required by state policy governing age-restricted communities. More than 100 residents joined the Zoom hearing, hitting the platform's capacity limit, and three representatives of Save Chewbacco Trails and Watershed, Kent Wasepka, Heather Ensworth, and Ani Sarkisian, delivered detailed objections covering well contamination, habitat destruction, blasting impacts, and storm water runoff, with Wasepka citing a 641-signature petition against the project.