The Hathaway developer requests 20 waivers for project approval

Four months after paperwork for the proposed 300-unit apartment project known as The Hathaway was submitted, a public hearing will be held for the first time on Thursday, Jan. 8.

The hearing will take place at Town Hall in room 304 and will begin at 6 p.m.

In order for The Hathaway to move forward, the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board must approve 20 waivers submitted by the developer, Saxon Partners LLC.

These waivers focus on the town’s concerns about Saxon Partners’ land and development plans.

Saxon Partners is a Hingham-based company that builds both residential and commercial developments country-wide, such as Oak Point, an 1,000 home development in Middleboro.

Developer Dave Calhoun of Saxon Partners sent in his initial plans for the project on Aug. 26.

The Hathaway would have six apartment buildings, with four of them being five-stories tall and two being four-stories.

This is a Chapter 40B project, which is a Massachusetts affordable housing law that allows developers to bypass some local zoning laws to prioritize affordable housing. The project was approved by MassHousing in late August, meaning the zoning board can make some changes to the waivers and plans but can’t stop the project from moving forward.

To qualify as 40B housing, 25% of apartments need to qualify as affordable housing. Of the 300 units in this project, 75 would be affordable.

If approved, The Hathaway would be built on Hathaway Road north of the Hope Evangelical Community Church and across the street from the Country Club of New Bedford.

This land is zoned for single residences, which means that constructing apartment buildings wouldn’t be allowed until the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals approve the developer’s requested waivers.

Land is often zoned as a single residence as a way to prevent issues like increased population density, traffic, and sewage and water overuse by only allowing single-family homes.

The land isn’t zoned for any of the developer’s proposed amenities, which include a conference center and professional office, a social club, an active outdoor recreation building, a dog park and a double sided billboard that would be built adjacent to I-195.

The developer also needs to get a special permit and a site plan review from the Planning Board for their planned “parking facility/area.” If approved, this would waive the site plan review and would allow for the project’s necessary parking facilities.

All six of the apartment buildings are also taller than what’s allowed. Currently, all buildings and freestanding structures can’t be taller than 35 feet. The developer is looking to waive this maximum height requirement.

The developer also requested a waiver to allow for light poles to be taller than 20 feet instead of the 14-foot height limit, which is in place to limit light pollution.

The developer has asked to waive the tree standards, which require a certain number of trees per area, by almost half, decreasing from 52 trees in a parking area to 30 and from 18 to seven along the property line.

Other waivers would allow the developer to have a 20-foot setback Hathaway Road instead of a 40-foot setback.

In a letter published on Friday, Jan. 2, Calhoun wrote that Saxon Partners has responded to all municipality concerns raised surrounding The Hathaway.