Hanson Planning Board Blocks MBTA Compliance, Advances ADU Bylaw

HANSON — February 10, 2025 — Hanson Planning Board refuses to back MBTA compliance action plan, putting $307,000 in grants at risk. Town Planner Tony Clemente told the four-member board at its February 10 meeting that filing a state action plan by February 13 would unlock two previously awarded but unexecuted grants — one for $237,000 and one for $70,000 — and keep the town in interim compliance through a July 14, 2025 deadline set by the state Supreme Judicial Court's ruling in the Milton MBTA case. Two separate motions, one to recommend the action plan and one to recommend the broader MBTA multifamily overlay zoning amendment, each died for lack of a second. A resident identifying himself as Select Board member Edwin Neel called the position "a rock and a hard place," saying the town needed the money but objected to what he described as state pressure. The board did vote 4-0 to advance a revised accessory dwelling unit bylaw — eliminating the former special-permit and owner-occupancy requirements under the state's new Affordable Homes Act — to the Select Board for inclusion on the May town meeting warrant.