Planning Board Meeting

The Board opened with a short set of administrative items and then moved into permit hearings. A sign application for Barn Moth at 80 Main Street was recommended by the Design Review Committee and approved unanimously. A small-scale project at 30 Lake Attitash Road proposing a 1,000 sf addition in the Water Resource Protection District prompted Board discussion about impervious surface and infiltration; the Board unanimously authorized a peer review of technical calculations and continued the hearing.

The meeting's principal substantive item was a detailed presentation of a large residential proposal at 28 Haverhill Road: two mirror five‑story buildings totaling 126 for‑sale condominium units (mix of one- and two-bedroom), with subsurface parking, 25 affordable units, EV spaces, on-site stormwater infiltration, trail connections, and two full-access driveways (one on Route 150 subject to MassDOT). Staff, the applicant, and consultants reviewed site constraints (wetlands, floodplain), utility plans (onsite pump station for sewer), parking strategy, and traffic analysis. Neighbors raised concerns about existing congestion, sightlines, and safety for pedestrians and cyclists; the Board responded by directing staff to gather quotes for peer reviews of engineering, traffic, stormwater, utilities, and environmental issues. The Board also handled several administrative site items: it approved converting the erosion control bond to a performance bond for 101-107 Market St, approved a covenant and an $11,078 erosion-control bond for 9 Alenclair Dr, and added a condition that the covenant not be released until landscaping is complete or a landscape bond is posted. Public comment focused largely on traffic and safety impacts from the Haverhill Road/Route 150 area and the scale and environmental impacts of the Haverhill Road proposal.