Cohasset officials gained a powerful new tool to manage development impacts after voters at Monday's Special Town Meeting unanimously approved a Development Impact Mitigation Bylaw.
The new measure enables the Planning Board and Zoning Board to require impact assessments and mandate specific improvements from developers of large-scale projects to address their effects on the community.
"It simply gives the town a needed tool to protect ourselves from the anticipated or unanticipated consequences of a new development," explained Select Board member Jack Creighton. "If somebody develops something new, and this is not for single family or large homes, there's going to be a cost - sidewalks. Maybe you have to do something to a playground, maybe you have to redo the streets. Maybe there's some solid waste or drainage issues."
Planning Board Chairman Tom Callahan said the bylaw will apply to commercial projects in the village, harbor, and Route 3A areas, as well as subdivisions and developments in the town's new MBTA overlay district. Single-family homes and large house reviews are specifically excluded from the requirements.
The measure shifts the town's leverage with developers from informal negotiations to codified requirements. "Right now, largely both boards are left to negotiating and the good faith of a developer to get certain types of mitigation," Callahan explained. "That kind of trading off is done on the developer's side to avoid litigation and appeals and a negative decision... It's not a process where we have a tool in our tool belt to mandate an item of mitigation that we think is appropriate."
Officials cited recent experiences, including a four-lot subdivision where additional mitigation powers could have benefited the town. They also pointed to potential future developments in the harbor area and MBTA district as examples where the new authority will prove valuable.
The bylaw follows models from nearby communities including Hanover and Dedham, though officials tailored it to Cohasset's smaller scale and specific needs. It represents one of the final pieces in a comprehensive three-year overhaul of the town's zoning regulations.