Project unknowns persist as deadline for Residences at Hawthorne looms

With just a month and a half left for the Zoning Board of Appeals to make a decision on the future of a proposed 137-unit affordable housing project at 970 Tucker Road, Chair Michael Medeiros says plans for the project are “still not complete.”

“There are a lot of things that haven't been spoken on. There are a lot of things that still haven't been addressed,” Medeiros said.

Unless developer Paul Cusson grants the Zoning Board an extension, board members have until Thursday, March 26 to make a decision on the fate of the Residences at Hawthorne, a date that Medeiros expressed discomfort with.

“I think that we need to extend the time in order to do this,” he said.

Taking note of a crowded Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12, Medeiros said, “These people are going to be impacted by this for the rest of their lives, or as long as they continue to live in that area.”

He added,“It's going to be beyond them. I'm going to be impacted. Anybody that drives along Tucker Road is going to be impacted by this.”

Once the hearing closes, the Zoning Board will have 40 days to decide whether to approve the project. During this time, the applicant won't be able to respond to waivers or talk through conditions and project logistics.

At the Feb. 12 meeting, Board member Halim Choubah questioned how much more information was needed before making a decision, pointing out that the necessary studies and peer reviewed projects have been completed.

According to Town Counsel Susan Murphy, recommendations have been made based on the findings of these studies but there hasn’t been an opportunity to compile them into one document and walk through the conditions.

If the hearing were to close on March 26, the applicant and Zoning Board would lose the opportunity to review the information together.

“The Board will be sitting here deciding the waivers and deciding the conditions, and the applicant will not be able to participate in that conversation,” Murphy said.

But, a denial from the board doesn't mean the project won't happen. Since this project falls under Chapter 40B, even if the Zoning Board of Appeals denies the project, it could still move forward if the applicant appeals to the Housing Appeals Committee.

“[The applicant] could list all of their disagreements with either the board’s conditions or disagreeing with the board’s determinations on the waivers — they could object to either,” Murphy said.

If the project were to reach this stage, then the town would have no say in how the project moves forward. This could mean a complete reversal to the conditions the Zoning Board has made so far, which includes decreasing the number of units from 147 to 137.

Medeiros said the “bigger picture” of the situation is that if the Housing Appeals Committee were to approve the project, then any conditions the Zoning Board could impose would “go out the window.”

 “Then you guys [the developer] get to build what you want to build,” he said. “Your people get to do what they want to build without any input from any of us.”

The next meeting for this project will be held on Monday, March 23 in Town Hall at 400 Slocum Road, at which time the Zoning Board and applicant will address project waivers, conditions from the studies and whether to extend the deadline.

“I think that meeting on the 23rd would be very productive, and if it is productive, I think the applicant would have no problem giving that extension,” said principal engineer Christian Farland.