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.