Amesbury's Planning Board has approved the site plan for Rocky Hill, a sprawling residential project off Elm Street that developers say will bring nearly 400 units of housing to the city. The vote was almost unanimous, with board member Tracey Chalifour casting the lone dissent, as the project cleared a major hurdle toward construction.
According to The Daily News of Newburyport, the approval marks a major step forward for the long-discussed development, which is zoned in a way that supports the project and is subject to the Massachusetts MBTA Communities Act. That state law establishes multifamily zoning requirements for certain Massachusetts cities and towns. The project was approved within the MBTA overlay district.
Amesbury's own project page, describing the plan under review this year, lists Rocky Hill as a two-neighborhood, 381-unit residential development proposed on roughly 65 acres along Elm Street. Architecture firm Union Studio, which worked on the project, describes it instead as a 375-unit mixed-income community on a 66-acre site with 35 developable acres — a discrepancy in the record that has not been independently resolved.
Two Neighborhoods, Hundreds of Homes
Per the Newburyport Daily News, the development comprises two neighborhoods. The North Neighborhood is planned to have 296 rental homes, and the South Neighborhood is planned to have 85 for-sale homes. The city's own project page lists the same figures: 296 rental homes planned for the North Neighborhood and 85 for-sale homes in the South Neighborhood.
Developers say 10% of units in each neighborhood will be designated as affordable housing, a figure confirmed on the city's project listing as well. Primary vehicle access to the site is proposed via a single boulevard entrance from Elm Street, with a roundabout where the boulevard splits to separate the two neighborhoods, according to the city's project page.
Parks and a New England Look
The plan includes parks and pocket parks, providing outdoor space for residents.
Buildings throughout Rocky Hill will follow traditional architectural design and reflect the scale typically seen in New England communities, with additional architectural design requirements to be applied during final construction, per the same report. Union Studio says it created a Pattern Book of design guidelines for the project, laying out standards intended to keep that New England character consistent across the development.
Financial Case and Lingering Paperwork
The proposed development would add housing in Amesbury.
City records show the path to this point included work behind the scenes. On August 10, the Planning Board asked staff to begin drafting a decision for Rocky Hill so members could review conditions and outstanding items, according to Amesbury's project page. A peer-review update dated August 24 found that many items had been provided or clarified but flagged matters still to be resolved before final approvals or addressed as conditions, including a construction phasing and management plan, a final operations and maintenance plan, stormwater documentation, and legal paperwork to confirm a proposed lot consolidation.
With site-plan approval now in hand, Rocky Hill has cleared a major step in the review process. The Planning Board has also considered and continued matters related to the definitive subdivision permit.
Part of a Statewide Housing Push
Rocky Hill lands amid a broader statewide effort to boost housing production near transit. A January report from The Boston Foundation found nearly 7,000 units of new housing in the MBTA Communities Act development pipeline across more than 100 projects in Eastern Massachusetts, with 34 communities hosting projects ranging from two to more than 500 units. The report found that just 19 projects of more than 100 units each make up three-quarters of all MBTA Communities projects, even though most projects in the pipeline are small-scale, under 10 units. It also found that only about 30% of units being built under the law are within a half-mile of train stations.
The MBTA Communities Act sets multifamily zoning requirements for participating communities. Amesbury's project page notes that the Planning Board's review and final action on Rocky Hill remained pending even after site-plan approval, with technical and legal-documentation items still to be resolved before the project can move to its next steps.
