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NORTHAMPTON - A major retirement community developer has dropped plans to build 23 independent-living units off Rocky Hill Road.
Deaconess Abundant Life Communities notified the city’s Planning Department recently that it is not going forward on the project, which would have been built on Christ United Methodist Church property. The Planning Board allowed the organization to withdraw its application without prejudice last week.
According to Bruce W. Young, a land use and conservation planner, Deaconess came upon a major hurdle when the Conservation Commission discovered wetlands on the property that had not been previously noted by a contractor surveying the land.
By city ordinance, developers may not build closer than 50 feet to a wetland in that part of the city. The discovery would have precluded four or five of the independent-living units planned for the site.
The Rev. Herb B. Taylor, the president and chief executive officer of Deaconess Abundant Life Communities, said yesterday that the wetlands oversight - combined with the soft housing market - convinced the organization to reconsider.
“It didn’t become economically feasible to put the project forward,” he said. “Even in any market it would have been tough.”
Deaconess had planned to lease about 40 acres from Christ United Methodist Church, and rent some church space for meetings and coordinate services. Taylor said that services for the residents would have been connected with those at the Rockridge Retirement Community on North King Street, which Deaconess also owns.

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