Planning Board Lifts 2005 Affordable Housing Restriction
Planning Board · Meeting of September 8, 2026
Williamstown Planning Board votes 3-2 to lift a 2005 affordable housing restriction on a long-vacant Henderson Road lot. Members Samantha Page, Erik Reardon and Chair Ken Kuttner supported freeing owner Gerard Smith, who bought the 0.56-acre parcel for $5,000 in December 2024, to sell it at market rate after Habitat for Humanity and the town's Affordable Housing Trust both found it too costly to develop affordably, with access estimates ranging from $35,000 to $150,000. Members Cory Campbell and Roger Lawrence abstained.
"I'm hard-pressed to see what else we can do to advance that specific goal on this specific lot," Page said. The board separately approved a gravel parking surface for a Simons Road home office unanimously and continued its subdivision-regulations rewrite on sidewalks, bike lanes and fee-in-lieu provisions to October. Kuttner announced he is moving to New Zealand and will step down as chair in January, with Vice Chair Roger Lawrence nominating Page as his successor.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
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- The complete report — 3,503 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of September 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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