Erving Planning Board approves $60,000 grant for zoning consultant after public hearing

ERVING -- November 18, 2021, Erving Planning Board holds PUD zoning hearing and accepts $60,000 consultant grant. The board closed a public hearing Thursday on proposed zoning map amendments and a new Planned Unit Development overlay district covering mill sites, Care Drive, and the French King corridor, then voted unanimously to accept a $60,000 Rural and Small Town Development Fund grant to hire a professional zoning consultant for a comprehensive bylaw overhaul. Town planner Mariah Kurtz described the PUD as an optional "tool in the toolbox" allowing campus-style development on parcels where traditional zoning prohibits multiple buildings. Abutter David Bruhl raised traffic and density concerns about the Renovator Supply parcels near River Street, telling the board "this is a very compact, dense neighborhood as it is." The board separately voted to schedule a December 16 public hearing on a Select Board-requested use table amendment, including a new definition of multi-unit dwelling, prompted by an active request for proposals for the redevelopment of 18 Pleasant Street, where current bylaws leave dwellings of more than four units unaddressed.