WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The long road to getting a short road approved by the town came to a successful end for Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity on Tuesday night.

 

On a series of 4-0 votes with one member absent, the Planning Board granted a series of waivers from the town's subdivision bylaw and approved the plan for a four-home development off Summer Street on land the town's Affordable Housing Trust purchased in 2015.

 

Tuesday marked the second time the non-profit was before the Planning Board to discuss the project. The first time, it brought a preliminary and slightly different version of the subdivision with five building lots instead of the four that ultimately were approved.

 

In addition to the homes, which will be built by volunteers under the Habitat model over a series of years, the subdivision will include a 289-foot road and associated drainage to handle runoff from the currently undeveloped parcel.

 

Since the planners gave positive feedback to the preliminary plan back in April, the developer went through the Notice of Intent process with the town's Conservation Commission, whose determinations were appealed by abutters to the commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection. Mass DEP ultimately issued a superseding order of conditions that largely was unchanged from the local Con Comm's decision.

 

On Tuesday, a few abutters from the neighborhood surrounding the proposed subdivision attended the Planning Board's public hearing, but no one spoke in opposition to the proposal.

 

"I think Habitat has done a great job of listening to community feedback and responding to it," Planning Board member Roger Lawrence said just before the vote to give Habitat the final regulatory approval it needs to proceed with the project.