Erving Planning Board Advances Zoning Bylaw Rewrite
Erving Planning Board softened a mandatory river-access rule and sent its zoning bylaw rewrite to town meeting.
Planning Board · Meeting of October 8, 2026
Erving Planning Board softened a mandatory river-access rule and sent its zoning bylaw rewrite to town meeting. The board voted unanimously to change Section 9.3.11 from "shall provide" to "may provide" riverfront access for any mill redevelopment, after Select Board member Jacob Smith, speaking as a 14 High Street resident, warned it could be "prohibitive to a prospective developer" eyeing the town's pending mill RFP. Wheelock Street resident Dan Hammack noted river-adjacent variances are hard to win, since "it's not a walk in the park to get to the river" almost anywhere along it.
The rewrite creates a new mill overlay district covering Usher Mill, the former Erving Paper Mill and Renovator Supply, and now heads, as amended, to the November 16 Special Town Meeting and the Board of Selectmen.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,611 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of October 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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