Boxborough Planning Board unanimously adopts first administrative rules and regulations

BOXBOROUGH -- September 16, 2024, Boxborough Planning Board adopts its first-ever administrative rules and regulations after a four-plus-year drafting process. The board voted 4-0 Monday to adopt the document at the close of a public hearing, with member Cindy Markowitz emphasizing for the record that Boxborough had never had such rules before, "we are not changing any existing planning board rules and regulations," she said. The board also voted 5-0 to direct staff to prepare a zoning bylaw amendment aligning the town's accessory dwelling unit rules with the state's new Affordable Homes Act, targeting a February 2025 Special Town Meeting; a draft submitted by Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Mark Barbadow was praised as a "great jumping off point." A narrower 3-2 vote authorized further staff work on a proposal by member Rich Guzzardi to convert gateway industrial-commercial zones along Route 111 to a business district and modify the use table to remove high-intensity uses, with members Rebecca Bernard and Markowitz dissenting, citing insufficient time to review the document and concerns about overlap with the town's pending MBTA Communities compliance work. The board continued a review of an earth removal permit for French Brothers Boxborough LLC's trade shop project at 100 Codman Hill Road, agreeing to waive operational and restoration standards only after consulting engineer Sue Carter provides written confirmation each standard is met or inapplicable, while retaining the bylaw's performance bond requirement.