Planning Board Continues Main Street Housing Hearing to October Amid Traffic Concerns

BELLINGHAM — August 28, 2025 — Bellingham Planning Board continues Main Street housing hearing to October 23 after extensive traffic testimony. The board heard presentations from MDM Transportation Consultants and town peer reviewer TEDC on a proposal to build 800 units of age-restricted, 55-and-older housing on Main Street near the New England Country Club, a project cut from an earlier 1,600-unit concept. MDM managing principal Robert Micha told the board the development would add roughly 100 outbound vehicles per morning peak hour and that key intersections would remain at an acceptable level of service, while TEDC's John Dixon flagged concerns about sight distances for left turns into the proposed new driveway, an above-average crash rate at the Pulaski Boulevard and Main Street intersection, and ADA-noncompliant sidewalks along the Main Street frontage. One board member argued the answer was not a traffic signal but a reduction in density, saying a light "has no business on Main Street" given the hill grade and compromised sight distances. The board voted unanimously to continue both the special permit and preliminary subdivision hearings to October 23, with water, sewer, stormwater, and civil engineering peer reviews still incomplete.