Bellingham Planning Board Continues Two Hartford Avenue Development Hearings to June

BELLINGHAM -- April 10, 2025, Bellingham's Planning Board unanimously continued two Hartford Avenue commercial development hearings to June 12, setting a July 31 decision deadline. Route 85 Development presented plans for a roughly 5,000-square-foot retail-office building at 190-194-198 Hartford Avenue and an approximately 3,500-square-foot bank with a drive-through at 182-186 Hartford Avenue, both requiring special permits under a zoning overlay district approved at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting. Attorney Jonathan Silverstein led the applicant team, which includes traffic consultant Jason Adams of Bowman Consulting, whose separate traffic impact studies for each site will be subject to a third-party peer review. Town Planner Rob Thessin told the board that the town's public safety officer flagged Cedar Hill Road within minutes of receiving the applications, calling it a specific concern. Residents raised issues including early-morning trash truck noise, cut-through traffic on Cedar Hill Road, and the planned demolition of a circa-1740 house on the bank parcel, one of the oldest structures in Bellingham, prompting the applicant to invite the Historical Commission to tour and document the property before any demolition.