Board agrees to raise attainable housing income cap

Planning Board · Meeting of October 26, 2026

Chatham Planning Board reached consensus to raise the income threshold for a new attainable-housing bylaw to 250 percent of area median income. Housing consultant Gloria McPherson told the board the higher threshold, allowed under the town's seasonal communities designation, narrows the gap between construction cost and resale value on undersized lots. Vice Chair Charleen Greenhalgh said, "I concur.

I think it should be 250." The board also continued two public hearings: a Chatham Productions LLC renovation of the Washington Taylor House and former Monomoy Theater, pushed to November 23 pending re-notice of five parcels, and new stormwater and erosion control regulations, continued to November 9 after engineer David Clark argued the board "has no authority under the zoning bylaw" for site-plan stormwater rules, a reading Greenhalgh said she agreed with.

In the full story:

• Working Session: Seasonal Communities Housing Bylaws
• Approval of Minutes
• Site Plan Review: 1615 Main Street
• Site Plan Review: 768 and 776 Main Street (Chatham Productions LLC)
• Public Hearing: Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control Regulations
• Correspondence and Other Business
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,776 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of October 26, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.