The Morrison Center is returning with additional information for the Planning Board to consider at its Tuesday October 5 meeting. The meeting will begin at 7 pm at the Meetinghouse and will be live-streamed on Town Hall Streams at this link.
Proposed is a 10-bed residential cottage for Morrison Center’s hilltop location on Gloucester Hill Road. The 9000 s.f. structure would serve young people with disabilities and is Phase I of a larger multi-building project envisioned for its Gloucester Hill campus, located in the Rural Residential and Groundwater Protection zones and in part in the Historic Overlay District.
At a previous meeting, the board had questions for Morrison Center about water usage, septic design, traffic impacts and the driveway location, among other items. In response, Morrison Center has submitted additional and updated materials, which can be found at this link.
Beyond those specific issues, broader questions may be in play, depending on how the proposed use is characterized under the zoning ordinance. Among them, whether the Morrison Center must construct a new driveway entrance, how many beds are permissible, and even whether Morrison Center’s proposal must undergo Planning Board review at all or can instead be handled by the town code enforcement officer.
The October 5 agenda and meeting packet of relevant documents can be accessed at the Planning Board’s webpage – link here.
— Joanne Cole
