Boxborough Conservation Commission Flags Missing Rare-Species Language in Campanelli Draft Restrictions

BOXBOROUGH — April 1, 2026 — Boxborough Conservation Commission finds gaps in Campanelli draft land restrictions, weighs beaver dam fix. At the April 1 meeting, Chair Liz Markiewicz led a detailed review of draft Declarations of Restrictions covering four Campanelli parcels near Littleton County Road, all of which fall within Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program priority habitat for Blanding's turtle — a threatened species the draft documents had failed to acknowledge. Member David Koonce called the missing "whereas" clause "the most important change to make," proposing language modeled on a Chelmsford declaration. Meredith Houghton of Sudbury Valley Trustees, joining remotely, raised a related concern: roughly 12 acres of a fifth parcel carries only a restrictive covenant — not an enforceable Chapter 184 conservation restriction — and the commission agreed to ask Campanelli to voluntarily extend the new restriction to cover that area. Associate Town Planner Ian Gilson said the Planning Board's 60-day recording deadline falls April 14 and that a minor modification extending it another 60 days is likely. In a separate update, Gilson reported beaver activity on Hill Road has backed water to within four feet of the road surface, flagging a beaver deceiver — similar to a $5,000 installation near the town elementary school last year — as the preferred long-term option if technically feasible.