Planning Board Continues Myopia Permit Hearing to February 24

HAMILTON — February 3, 2026 — Hamilton Planning Board defers Myopia Hunt Club permit decision and grapples with sweeping new state energy permitting law. The board voted 5-0 at its February 3 meeting to continue the Myopia Hunt Club site plan and stormwater management application to February 24, pending the applicant's response to a five-page peer review comment letter; the town planner said a decision could come at that meeting if revised plans arrive by February 13. Members spent most of the session on master plan implementation work, including a draft bylaw aimed at preserving large historic estates along Bay Road that would explore limited commercial reuse, and a proposed performance-standard approach to engineered septic systems in the Groundwater Protection Overlay District. The meeting's most unsettled discussion involved a 2024 state law creating a consolidated permitting process for solar, battery, and wind facilities up to 80 feet tall, with a 12-month constructive-approval deadline and a December deadline for local bylaw updates — a framework Chair Jonathan Poor called potentially "far more impactful than ADUs or MBTA zoning." A town center design guideline project with consultant UTL is moving forward within a $10,000 budget cap.