Town and Buzzards Bay Coalition to potentially purchase The Residences at Hawthorne

Controversial plans to develop the former Hawthorne Country Club property with 138 units of affordable housing took an abrupt U-turn this week.

At the Tuesday, Sept. 9, Select Board meeting, officials unveiled a proposal by the Buzzards Bay Coalition to buy and preserve much of the 56-acre property and an unnamed developer’s agreement to build 65 units of market-rate housing for older adults on another piece of the land. The town would contribute $1 million in Community Preservation funds to make the whole thing happen.

At the Oct. 14 Fall Town Meeting, members will be asked to approve the $1 million expenditure. In making their presentation Tuesday, Town Administrator Cody Haddad and Buzzards Bay Coalition President Mark Rasmussen said the current owner of the property, The Residences at Hawthorne, LLC, had already agreed to the deal.

The original plans for the property were to build 138 units of 40B housing, to be known as the Residences at Hawthorne. The Residences at Hawthorne, LLC, who are the owners of the property, are willing to sell the property to a developer with the Coalition. 

During the Fall Town Meeting, town meeting members will be voting on whether to use $1 million from the Community Preservation Committee to purchase between  25 to 27 acres of land to conserve. The Coalition will match this, as the land will cost around $2 million. This would leave between 29 and 31 acres for  housing.  

Community Preservation funds, raised through a surtax on property taxes, can be used for historic preservation, the creation of affordable housing, community recreation or preservation of open space.

The Paskamansett Valley would have 65 units of 55+ housing. The units would be market rate, and wouldn’t not count toward the town’s necessary 10% of affordable housing. 

The land being purchased for conservation would be protected with a permanent Conservation Restriction. 

Rasmussen stated they want to conserve this land for four reasons: it would guide growth away from sensitive resources such as the water supply and the Paskamansett River; which would protect the river and public drinking water; the adjacent land is mapped as “Core Habitat” and “Critical Natural Landscape” by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program; and it would expand the river conservation corridor.

The conserved land would eventually have public access trails, and Rasmussen stated he hopes that the Coalition can connect this trail to other conserved land in the area. 

The Coalition would develop trails after the development is built, which they expect will take about two years. As trails typically take about two years to complete, the estimated timeline is around four years. 

The estimated cost of the development property is $2 million, but the property has yet to be appraised. If the property costs more, the Community Preservation Committee will meet again on Wednesday, Oct. 14 to decide how much they will ask for at Town Meeting. 

Before Town Meeting, the Coalition, the Town and The Residences at Hawthorne, LLC must receive an appraisal on the property and a Purchase and Sale agreement. Rasmussen and Haddad state they expect these documents to be completed by the Fall Town Meeting. 

If the warrant is not approved during Town Meeting, then the developers of the Hawthorne will go back to the original plans to build the 138 units. 

“It combines promoting responsible housing in town, … responsibly controlling growth and doing great conservation,” said Rasmussen.