Country Club Estates - Comprehensive Permit - Hearing Update - March 17, 2020

ZBA Chair Robert "Bert" Gaynor has notified the Town that the intention of the Zoning Board of Appeals is to hold an extremely short initial hearing on the proposed Country Club Estates comprehensive permit on Wednesday, March 18 in the Great Hall of the Halifax Town Hall at 7pm.

It is likely that the initial session will follow these steps:

1) Open the meeting;

2) Open the hearing;

3) Hire the peer review consultant;

4) Continue the hearing to Wednesday, May 6 at 7pm in the Great Hall;

5) Close the meeting (not the hearing);

While Governor Baker's order concerning gatherings of 25 or more people is effective until April 6, the likelihood that this order will be extended is significant. In addition, the current advice from the Federal government is not to have gatherings of 10 or more people and that advice comes without an end date. Rather than a series of postponements, the hope is that by continuing the hearing to May 6 this will allow for enough time to pass for these orders and advisories to end.

The ZBA understands that this may mean a robust schedule for meetings between May and the deadline for making a decision. However, the immediate health and safety of the general public is of greater importance right now.

As noted above, the hearing will _not_ close tomorrow. Interested parties continue to have the right to participate in future hearing sessions and can also send the Zoning Board of Appeals any comments, questions, concerns, and recommendations.