Boxborough Planning Board Recommends Zoning Fixes and $60,000 Traffic Study for Town Meeting

BOXBOROUGH -- February 12, 2024, Boxborough Planning Board advances zoning cleanup articles and a $60,000 traffic study to Annual Town Meeting 2024. Meeting entirely via Zoom on February 12, the five-member board voted unanimously to recommend two zoning amendments, restoring a commercial dump prohibition under Section 6.6.2 and cleaning up the detached accessory dwelling unit language in Section 5.3, while holding back a proposed fix to the town's stripped hazardous waste prohibition after Town Planner Alec Wade reported that no legal path forward had been identified. The board separately authorized Wade to engage Special Land Use Counsel on the hazardous waste issue by June 1 at a cost not to exceed the remaining consulting budget. On the traffic study, the board reviewed three proposals, Green International at $43,675, Weston and Sampson at $75,850, and TEP at $83,500, and voted unanimously to recommend a warrant article of $60,000, covering Green International's base bid plus an alternate for two additional intersections and a built-in contingency, noting the firm had done prior work for Boxborough and that the board "felt confident" in the selection despite the unusually low bid.