Boxborough Planning Board votes to open public hearings on six zoning bylaw changes

BOXBOROUGH -- February 2, 2026, Boxborough Planning Board unanimously authorizes public hearings on six proposed zoning bylaw amendments at its February 2 meeting. The 5-0 vote directs Town Planner Alec Wade to publish a combined public hearing notice covering proposed changes to the Industrial Commercial district, design guideline revisions, an accessory dwelling unit size increase from 900 to 1,000 square feet, a specialty food shop definition update prompted by the permitting difficulties of Thinking Flower bakery, parking calculation changes, and farm and agricultural provisions. Clerk Rich Guzzardi presented a detailed B2 District proposal that would ban warehouses, self-storage facilities, and landscape contractor yards from the Massachusetts Avenue corridor near Interstate 495 while adding retail stores and other business uses currently absent from the IC zone; board members flagged hospitals, sports facilities, and assisted living uses for further scrutiny before the hearing. In a separate 4-0 vote, with Mark White recused as an abutter, the board continued the public hearing on a proposed landscape contractor yard at 984 and 996 Massachusetts Avenue to April 6, 2026, with the decision deadline extended to May 6, after Town Planner Alec Wade cited advice from Special Land Use Counsel Adam Costa requiring explicit dates in the extension letter. Wade also reported that MAPC's Economic Feasibility Analysis found Boxborough can mandate that 20 percent of units in the MBTA Communities overlay district be affordable at 80 percent of area median income, double the state's initial threshold, with state review expected as early as mid-March.