Boxborough Planning Board Recommends ADU Bylaw, Drops Aquifer Protection Article

BOXBOROUGH -- April 7, 2025, Boxborough Planning Board advances ADU compliance bylaw to annual town meeting and withdraws aquifer protection amendment. The board voted 5-0 Monday to recommend Article 47, amending zoning bylaw Sections 4.2.2, 5.3, and 9.2 to bring Boxborough into compliance with the state's Affordable Homes Act (H.4977), after reopening a public hearing to cure a technical six-month deadline violation from the fall. Working through four comments from Attorney General reviewer Margaret Hurley, the board discovered that Boxborough's existing 10-foot accessory-structure setback in Section 5.5 must legally apply to detached ADUs as well, a gap members called "huge" but chose not to close at this meeting, instead deferring a Section 5.5 review to a fall special town meeting. The board separately voted 5-0 to withdraw a proposed amendment to the Aquifer Protection District (Section 8.1.5) after board member Cindy Markowitz and both the Board of Health and the Water Resources Committee concluded the article was premature pending a broader water resources study. A limited-agenda meeting to finalize the planning board's written report on the municipal governmental use article, required within 21 days of the March 31 hearing close, was scheduled for April 14.