New 300-unit housing project proposed for Hathaway Road

A 300-unit apartment project has been proposed for Hathaway Road by Dave Calhoun with L.L.C. Saxon Partners that would consist of six residential buildings, which would be known as “The Hathaway.”

The Zoning Board of Appeal will have the first meeting about this property on Thursday, Jan. 8 starting at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. 

The apartment building would be located on a 113 acre plot of land that MassHousing has deemed “generally eligible,” though only 16.5 of these acres are currently buildable. The land has a 50 foot grade change to the west which has been considered in building plans.

Of the six residential buildings, four will be four-stories with a fifth story walkout and terrace level. Two buildings will be four stories tall. The buildings are proposed to be between 56,000 and 74,735 square feet. The project anticipates 12 studio apartments, 183 one bedroom apartments, 75 two bedroom apartments and 30 three bedroom apartments. Each building will have between 33 and 57 units. 

This project has been proposed through the 40B and New England Fund, which supports the building of affordable housing. For a project to be 40B eligible, 25% of the new housing needs to be affordable. “Low income” is defined as under 80% of the median income, which for Dartmouth is $95,560 for a four person household. 

The Hathaway will have an estimated 75 low-income units. Dartmouth is currently 275 units under the required 10% affordable housing, according to MassHousing. 

The town raised a number of concerns when touring the property with MassHousing that they asked the Zoning Board to consider. These include: height and impacts to nearby single family units; impervious surfaces and vegetation; water and sewer capacity; groundwater and stormwater conditions and mitigation measures; the traffic study; the schedule and impact of construction; grading and building height; a Notice of Intent with the Conservation Commission; and the landscaping plans. 

The town also asked that the applicant provide a construction schedule and phasing plan and the plans for solid waste, recycling, food waste management and snow management. 

Some of these buildings will be within 25 to 100 feet of wetland borders, as 96.5 of the 113 acres are wetlands. 

There is also a proposed pool, advertising billboard and a clubhouse that includes a fitness center and leasing office. There would be parking between the buildings with 1.5 parking spaces per unit. Sidewalks, crosswalks, a school bus stop and subsurface infiltration are included in the plans.

The traffic analysis based off of similar land provided by the Institute of Transportation Engineers found that there could be an additional 1,338 vehicle trips entering and exiting Hathaway Road on a weekday. On a Wednesday, there could be an additional 118 in the peak morning hours and 111 in the peak evening hours.

A traffic study will be conducted at the intersections of Slocum Road and Route 6, Hathaway Road and Slocum Road, as well as Wilbur Avenue, 140 Southbound and 140 Northbound. This will be conducted using a 48 hour automatic traffic recorder and measuring turning movement and vehicle classification from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on a weekday. 

The developer is planning to use public water and sewage systems, which the town has asked that the zoning board consider town capacity with these systems. 

During the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Thursday, Jan. 8, the applicant will be asking for 20 variance approvals. Four of these are use variances, five are development standard variances, two are parking variances, five are landscaping variances, two are signage variances and two are plan and existing condition variances.