Boxborough Planning Board Continues Astro Crane Hearing, Defers MBTA Housing Work to Fall

BOXBOROUGH — March 3, 2025 — Boxborough Planning Board continues Astro Crane hearing, defers MBTA housing district work to fall. The board voted unanimously at its March 3 meeting to send the MBTA Communities Act compliance process back to the 3A Advisory Group for preparation of a zoning district eligible for a fall town meeting vote, after the advisory group declined to finalize a district recommendation for May annual town meeting. The town faces a December 2025 state deadline to establish a district allowing at least 118 multifamily units at 15 units per acre. The board separately continued a contested public hearing on a two-building industrial storage complex at 340 Codman Hill Road, with Chair Mark White and member Rebecca Berner challenging the applicant's proposed planting plan as inadequate: "There are nine trees in front of 300 feet of building — that is not dense screening," White said. Berner noted a comparable nearby project installed 55 large trees and approximately 175 shrubs, valued at an estimated $250,000 to $350,000, to screen a 160-to-200-foot building face. The board also voted unanimously to retain special land use counsel before opening a March 17 hearing on a Select Board-referred amendment that would allow municipal governmental uses across all zoning districts — an amendment tied to a building commissioner's opinion that the current bylaw does not permit a new fire station.