Hadley Planning Board Unanimously Backs Senior Housing and Solar Bylaw Overhaul

HADLEY -- April 1, 2025, Hadley Planning Board advances senior housing overhaul and solar fix to Town Meeting. The board voted 4-0 on all items Tuesday, with member Matt Weldrip absent, recommending two zoning amendments and a revised fee schedule for the Annual Town Meeting warrant. The most significant action restructures the Senior Housing Overlay District, in place since 2008 and productive of just one completed project, by splitting it into Central and Rural sub-districts, raising the townwide unit cap from 5 to 10 percent of single-family homes, and allowing buildings of up to 50 units in the central district, compared with the existing four-unit limit. Attorney Tom Reedy, who drafted the changes at the request of a developer with a current proposal, told the board the rural district "stays as existing" while the central district gains substantially more density and planning board discretion. A separate solar bylaw amendment, prompted by the Attorney General's rejection of an earlier earth-disturbance prohibition, passed without objection. The board also updated its fee schedule, setting a flat $80 per building lot for approval-not-required endorsements, eliminating the accessory apartment fee under new state ADU law, and pegging all other hearing fees to actual notice costs plus $150 to the town.