Hamilton Planning Board Votes to Push for Master Plan Implementation Committee

HAMILTON -- September 17, 2024, Hamilton Planning Board unanimously backs new master plan implementation committee and advances housing bylaw changes. The board voted 6-0 at its September 17 meeting to recommend the Select Board create an 11-member implementation committee, drawing from the town manager, planning director, DPW, Recreation, Select Board, Planning Board, Conservation Commission, Capital Committee, Finance and Advisory Committee, Hamilton Development Corporation, and Environmental Impact Committee, to track progress on the town's comprehensive plan, with a final recommendation letter to be finalized at the next meeting. Board member Matt Hamill presented a redlined inclusionary housing bylaw amendment, with Chair Marnie Crouch directing changes including deed restrictions in perpetuity on all affordable units and approval authority vested in the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities; a clean copy will be brought to a vote next session. The board also reviewed a proposed one-word change to the Groundwater Protection Overlay District, reverting density calculations from "per lot" to "per dwelling unit", and discussed accessory dwelling unit amendments required by the Affordable Homes Act, which takes effect in February 2025. Crouch warned that pending litigation in Essex Superior Court (civil action 2477-CV-00932) against the Conservation Commission over expired orders of conditions could affect the board's own April 18 decision on a related project.