The Residence at Hawthorne deadline for last meeting extended until April 13

The Zoning Board of Appeals has been granted a deadline extension for the Residence at Hawthorne, an 148 unit 40B development proposed for 970 Tucker Road. 

In a letter sent to the Zoning Board on Feb. 12, the developer Paul Cusson stated he would not be allowing the Board an extension, and they must close public hearings on Friday, March 27. However, he was absent from this meeting and so his lawyer Jason Talerman granted the extension.The extension will allow the developers and the Zoning Board to meet and discuss the conditions the board is placing on the project in a public setting.

A 40B development is a project that is allowed to bypass local zoning laws to prioritize affordable housing. 40B requires that at least 25% of the units be deemed affordable, or affordable to those who make under 80% of the median income. A total of 37 units at the Hawthorne will be affordable. 

Community members raised concern during the Monday, March 23 Zoning Board  meeting about the development’s planned emergency access, traffic and the town’s water and sewer capacity. 

Cusson planned to have the emergency fire entrance be Fairway Drive, a private road. It is unclear whether he can claim a private drive for his emergency access point, but that is out of the Zoning Board’s jurisdiction. However, citizens have stated they will be bringing Cusson to court to try and prevent this. 

Developments must have a main entrance and emergency fire entrance, but the developer has decided to claim a private road for an emergency access point — according to Zoning Board’s counsel Susan Murphy it is a gray area if a private road can be used for emergency service response.

During the next and possible final meeting, the Zoning Board will discuss the “hundreds” of conditions they will be placing on the application, according to Zoning Board chair Michael Medeiros. Murphy will be writing the decision prior to the meeting, which will be public by April 10. These include conditions on future traffic monitoring and making sure the town has emergency access. 

“I think there are going to be hundreds of other conditions that are going to be imposed on this project,” said Medeiros.

Robert Almy, the chair of the board of the Public Works who spoke as a private citizen, brought up that the developers only calculated for indoor water use only. He calculated that with outdoor street trees, the development would use 147,000 gallons a day. 

Murphy explained if they deny the project the developer could bring them to the Housing Appeals Commission and get the denial overturned. If overturned, the project would be approved with only the basic conditions and no town-specific conditions. 

Fred Dabney, off of Almy’s concerns, asked that the Zoning Board deny the project on the basis that the town does not have the capacity to expand their water and sewer to accommodate 148 more units of people. 

40B developments get special treatment, and cannot be discriminated against because of the large size of the development.  The town cannot deny a 40B project for reasons that wouldn’t stop a smaller project, such as a business or household. For example, if the board is granting applications that use town water, they cannot deny a 40B application for planning to use town water. 

“The problem from the very beginning, from my point of view on this  … is the density,” said resident Kate Dabrey. “We could have 50 houses in there that were all affordable housing and this would not be all happening.”

The next Zoning Board meeting will focus on the conditions, and will be at the Dartmouth High School on Monday, April 13 at 6 p.m. The high school is located at 555 Bakerville Road.