After months of deliberation, the Planning Board approved the last of the Bay Pointe development plans at a special, last-minute meeting Jan. 4.

The board made few changes to the site plan review and the special permit for the project, which is headed by Rhode Island-based developer Stonestreet Corp., Planning Board Chairman George Barrett said. The site plan review consists of the smaller details of the project, such as the landscaping and architecture. The special permit, in this case, “gives the board more say in the project.”

Stonestreet bought Bay Pointe in 2012 for $1.4 million, made improvements to the existing facilities and has been operating the golf course since the purchase. Last April, Stonestreet filed plans to construct a housing development centered around the golf course. The original plan called for 90 units on 18 acres.

The plans immediately ran into a barrage of questions from the Planning Board about lot sizes, setbacks from the road and how sewage would be handled before being fed into the town's system.

When it became clear that none of those issues was going to be resolved quickly, the developer granted the Planning Board a waiver from a deadline for ruling, up or down, on the proposal. As hearings and discussions continued into the fall, however, Stonestreet rescinded the waiver, due to the lengthiness of the process.

Barrett said the site plan review was approved with “a couple additional conditions that reference the architecture,” made at the board’s Dec. 14 meeting.

“The only thing we changed was some setbacks on the houses, because they were kind of close, so we altered them,” Barrett said.

Because of the increased setbacks, the Board had also decreased the number of units from 90 to 80.

With regards to the development’s accessibility, Barrett said the board added a sidewalk connecting a sidewalk within the subdivision to the sidewalk on Onset Avenue.

Barrett said Stonestreet was already in the process of filing an appeal against the decision, citing the time period within which they must break ground on the project.

“Our condition says that if construction doesn’t begin within two years, approval is withdrawn,” Barrett said. “It was kind of a vague appeal. I don’t know if they thought we overstepped our authority.”

Because Stonestreet filed the appeal through land court, rather than a superior court, Barrett does not know what the procedure will be.

“Normally, with an appeal to a superior court, it goes back to the board and developer to hash out their differences,” Barrett said.

The decision Jan. 4 was approved 4 – 1, with only board member Robert Reed dissenting.

Stonestreet could not be reached for comment.