Norwell approves zoning change for former St. Helen's site, What will be built there

NORWELL — Residents at annual town meeting this week overwhelmingly approved a zoning change that will allow an assisted living facility to open at the former site of St. Helen's Church.

The senior housing overlay district will include five parcels of land totaling about 20 acres of land, including the St. Helen's property and some land owned by the Norwell Housing Authority.

It will allow senior living housing for people 62 and older, including independent living, assisted living and memory care, with a special permit from the planning board. The zoning limits the total number of bedrooms in the development to 225, with no more than two bedrooms per unit.

The town had agreed to buy St. Helen's from the Boston archdiocese for about $9 million, but the appraisal came back at slightly less than $4.4 million in 2023.

The town planned to buy the property with Community Preservation Act money, which requires the property’s appraised value to equal or exceed the purchase price. As a result, the Community Preservation Committee had to deny the application.

Instead, Brightview Senior Living, an operator of senior housing complexes, plans to buy the property from the archdiocese and build a development. The sale is dependent on the zoning change.

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While the Norwell Housing Authority's parcels are included in the zoning, there are no plans to develop those lots.

Town resident Liz Bersell, who lives near St. Helen's, said the developer has been "more than transparent and communicative" with neighbors through the process and the plans. She said the development won't have any impact on school enrollment, minimal traffic and bring in additional revenue for the town.

"I think we were all really worried about what would be going in on that property," she said. "We feel as a neighborhood that this is really the best of a bad situation."

In other business, residents rejecting a zoning change to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The law requires communities MBTA’s service area to pass new zoning to permit multifamily by right in certain areas.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norwell approves zoning change for former St. Helen's site, What will be built there