Boxborough Planning Board Approves Astro Crane Warehouses After Six-Hearing Process

BOXBOROUGH — March 17, 2025 — Boxborough Planning Board unanimously approves Astro Crane warehouse permits after six hearings, defers Business 2 rezoning to fall. The board voted 5-0 on three separate permits — site plan approval, a special permit for alternate access, and a stormwater permit — for two industrial storage buildings at 340 Codman Hill Road, attaching 19 conditions including a requirement that trees be installed at a minimum of 10 to 12 feet in height and shrubs at a number five container specification. The votes came after midnight following a lengthy public hearing on three proposed zoning bylaw amendments, the most contested of which would add municipal governmental use as an allowed use in all zoning districts. Select Board Chair Kristen Hilbert, presenting the article on behalf of the Select Board, told roughly 60 Zoom attendees that the zoning gap — traced to the 1991 bylaw recodification — means "municipal buildings are no longer allowed anywhere under our current zoning, nowhere." Most public commenters opposed blanket allowance in residential districts, with residents citing transfer stations, 24-hour operations, and property value impacts as concerns; the hearing was continued to March 31, one day before the April 1 warrant print deadline. The board voted unanimously to recommend a narrower Section 2.3 special permit clarification to town meeting, and deferred the proposed Business 2 district rewrite to fall town meeting after members raised unresolved questions about floor-area ratios, noise standards, and dimensional requirements.