Boxborough Planning Board Unanimously Denies Adams Place Development in Two Votes

BOXBOROUGH — April 13, 2023 — Boxborough Planning Board votes 5-0 twice to deny Adams Place development. The board spent the entirety of its April 13 meeting editing two written denial decisions in open session before voting unanimously to reject both a special permit for a private common driveway and a site plan approval for a proposed manufacturing and office campus brought by Boxborough Adams Realty Trust. Chair Mark Barbadoro argued that the private common driveway bylaw applies only to residential lots and that the applicant is "not entitled to relief under this provision," a finding the board adopted over the original language. Members Kathleen Voris and Cindy Markowitz led additional findings covering a parking shortfall of more than 250 spaces, eight required loading bays against five shown, building height exceeding the 50-foot limit, lot width falling below the 125-foot minimum at the frontage approach, failure to obtain four aquifer-district permits, and a traffic study that Town Planner Alec Wade was directed to characterize as underestimating impacts based on the board's "information and belief" from other recently submitted traffic studies for nearby properties.