Boxborough Planning Board Approves ADU Bylaw Amendment, Targets State Compliance

BOXBOROUGH -- November 4, 2024, Boxborough Planning Board unanimously approved an accessory dwelling unit bylaw amendment Monday designed to comply with the state Affordable Homes Act and placed a general zoning cleanup article on the special town meeting warrant. The 4-0 votes came after Town Planner Alec Gilmore told the board the language, drafted by Special Land Use Counsel Mark Barbadoro and formatted by Associate Town Planner Rafi Nazam, allows ADUs by right in residential districts up to the lesser of 900 square feet or 50 percent of the principal dwelling's floor area. Gilmore said Boxborough may be "one of, if not the first community" in the state to adopt language compliant with the new law. He also flagged a significant procedural shift: the article requires only a simple majority at town meeting rather than the customary two-thirds supermajority, a change rooted in a 2020 state economic development bond bill. "I don't want to go to town meeting and not have that answer in our pockets," said member Rich Guzzardi. The board also heard a comprehensive Route 111 traffic study from Corinne Tobias of Green International, which found the Route 111 intersection at Adams Place West facing volume-to-capacity ratios of three to four times over capacity under full build conditions, with the Park at Beaver Brook and 1414 Massachusetts Avenue development proposals among the primary drivers; a recommendations and concept-plan presentation is expected at the December 16 meeting.