Hamilton Planning Board Votes to Cap Seminary Redevelopment at 400,000 Square Feet

HAMILTON — October 21, 2025 — Hamilton Planning Board advances Browns Hill Overlay District for Gordon Conwell seminary campus, with a required vote due November 18. The board spent the bulk of a roughly four-hour October 21 session refining the proposed zoning framework for the 100-acre campus at 130 Essex Street, capping total development at approximately 400,000 square feet — equal to current buildout — and restricting commercial uses to three smaller buildings: Pilgrim Hall, the gate house, and potentially the retreat house. The board voted 6-1 (with Pat Norton dissenting) to adopt a range of floor area ratios splitting density between the middle and upper campuses, and voted unanimously to approve a revised planning board fee schedule and new site plan regulations. Merwin Walters, representing the seminary, said Howard Stein Hudson's transportation analysis showed traffic would never reach historical peak levels under the proposed zoning, and that the seminary has spent close to $1 million improving its onsite wastewater treatment plant, with an enhanced traffic study authorized by the Select Board for up to $20,000. The public hearing was continued to November 4.