Bellingham Planning Board Approves New England Country Club Preliminary Subdivision With Conditions

BELLINGHAM — December 12, 2024 — Bellingham Planning Board opens hearing on New England Country Club subdivision, approving a placeholder plan with five conditions. The board voted unanimously Thursday to approve a preliminary subdivision plan filed by NECC Holdings LLC for the 335-acre golf course at 180 Main Street, a procedural step that locks in zoning rights but authorizes no construction. Town Planner Rob Orenstein outlined five conditions tied to Pain Street safety, stormwater, wetland permitting, soil testing, and utility coordination. Police Chief David Sherald told the board a traffic study already confirms "a major problem with the speed on Pain Street" and that full build-out of the site would strain public safety staffing the town does not currently have. Residents raised the prospect of up to 2,500 units under the property's 55-plus active adult overlay, approved at town meeting in 2017 at eight units per acre, though actual density cannot be determined until Conservation Commission wetland delineation is complete. In separate action, the board continued the Prospect Hill Village special permit to January 23 after the applicant presented a revised 129-unit plan — down from 156 — based on Town Counsel's ruling that wetland area must be excluded from density calculations, a change that removes 30 units but leaves traffic mitigation, a troubled Dury Street pump station with $118,000 in recent repairs, and several other items unresolved.