Braintree Planning Board Advances 220-Unit Banner Park Residential Proposal to June

PEPPERELL — May 12, 2026 — Braintree Planning Board continues Banner Park 220-unit multifamily proposal and flags unpermitted retaining wall near the Mulpus Brook. The board opened and immediately continued to June 9 a major modification application by Banner Park Campus LLC to replace a previously approved 272,500-square-foot light industrial complex at 60 Columbian Street with 220 residential units — garden flats, cottages, and townhomes — on 30.3 acres, with 10 percent affordable units and impervious area cut nearly in half from the prior approval. Tommy Marks Way abutters pressed the development team on whether a 15-foot privacy fence and 210-foot buffer negotiated during nine months of 2022 permit hearings would carry into the new permit, while Weymouth Planning Director Bob Longo told the board his town "is in support of the project" and confirmed an agreement with developer Chris Reel on funding a traffic signal at Forest and Columbian Streets. The board also unanimously approved converting 31 apartments at 99-107 Hancock Street to condominiums for developer Brian McGordy, and separately continued an after-the-fact grading permit for 5 Vine Street after abutter Julia Lesse testified that 20 truckloads of fill were brought in without a building permit, a retaining wall was built on the property line with zero setback, and no engineer or building inspector reviewed the work during construction — prompting Member Mikami to tell the applicant's engineer that "contractors certainly knew about it and they operated without a permit, which is horrifying."