Boxborough Planning Board Votes to Advance Three Zoning Bylaws to Town Meeting

BOXBOROUGH -- March 2, 2026, Boxborough Planning Board advances three zoning bylaw amendments and continues work on a new Gateway Business District along Massachusetts Avenue. At the March 2 remote meeting, the five-member board voted 5-0-0 three times, recommending revisions to the accessory dwelling unit size limit (Article 4.2.2), parking calculations (Article 6.1.6), and the Specialty Food Shop definition (Article 9.2, pending Building Commissioner review), all for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting warrant. Clerk Rich Guzzardi presented a slide-deck vision for a proposed B2 Gateway Business District that would prohibit warehousing, large-scale manufacturing, and contractor yards by right along the 495 interchange corridor, replacing them with community-serving retail, food, medical, and professional uses; the board debated individual use-table entries for more than two hours without reaching a final recommendation. "This is not an expansion of commercial intensity, it's a recalibration," Guzzardi said. The public hearing was continued 5-0-0 to March 16 at 7:05 p.m., with a non-public landowner meeting set for March 11 at 2 p.m. A $15,000 Conservation Fund match for an Eco One Stop planning-assistance grant to fund an Open Space and Recreation Plan, application deadline March 20, was also discussed, with the board deferring a letter-of-support vote pending a draft from staff.