Hamilton Select Board Approves License Renewals, Hears Athletic Field Cost Update

HAMILTON — December 19, 2022 — Hamilton Select Board closes 2022 with license renewals, a $15 million athletic field warning, and a downtown grant push. The board unanimously approved alcohol, common victualer, entertainment, and Class 2 motor vehicle license renewals for more than a dozen Hamilton businesses at its December 19 meeting, with Chair Sean Farrell also opening the federally required public hearing for Comcast's cable franchise renewal ahead of the license's March 2025 expiration. The board heard a sobering financial update from Peter Gordo of the Hamilton-Wenham Athletic Facility Improvement Committee, with the turf-and-lights project now estimated at $15 million — up from roughly $12.9 million two months prior — and private fundraising not yet formally begun; warrant articles contingent on Wenham's matching contribution must be drafted by late January and filed with Town Clerk Karen Kale by March 2. Hamilton Development Corporation Chair Rick Mitchell presented a framework for pursuing a Mass Works infrastructure grant targeting Railroad Avenue and adjacent downtown streets, with HDC prepared to fund preliminary engineering to strengthen the application. The board also approved a $1,000 water abatement for a Bridge Street property owner whose meter-pit service line developed two consecutive leaks, and voted 4-0 to deny the North Shore Nordic Trail Association's request to post a banner at the Patton tennis courts, citing existing town policy restricting non-municipal signage.