Bellingham Planning Board Sends 800-Unit Development Back for Public Safety Review

BELLINGHAM — February 12, 2026 — Bellingham Planning Board continues 180 Main Street special permit hearing to March as public safety questions mount. At the February 12 meeting, Fire Chief Fitzgerald told the board the nearby Blackstone mutual aid station cited by the developer's consultant is unmanned, that Woonsocket Fire runs roughly 14,000 calls per year and is not a reliable backup, and that the proposed emergency access road grade of 10 percent exceeds the allowable 8 percent maximum for fire apparatus. Police Chief Miller said a gated secondary entrance "is not an entrance to us" and argued that crash data on Pain Street does not account for the proposed new signalized intersection. Town engineer Jesse reported a water main upgrade from Pulaski Boulevard to the development entrance — upsizing from 6 inches to 10 inches with a looped system — and a sewer pump station upgrade carrying a preliminary cost estimate of just over $1 million, with additional downstream force main inspections not yet priced. The board voted 4-0 to continue the hearing to March 12 and separately classified a use modification request at 239 Maple Street as a major modification requiring a new public hearing.