Boxborough Select Board Votes to Begin Banning Rodenticides on Town Property

BOXBOROUGH -- July 28, 2025, Boxborough Select Board unanimously backs policy banning second-generation rodenticides on town property and eyes townwide vote. The board voted 4-0 Monday to direct staff to draft a policy prohibiting second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) on municipal land, a first step toward a potential home rule petition for a townwide ban at the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting. Conservation Commission member Liz Boland and Boxborough Conservation Trust representative Rita told the board the delayed-action poisons are killing hawks, owls, and domestic pets through secondary poisoning after debilitated rodents are taken as prey; at least 19 Massachusetts communities have home rule petitions pending before the legislature on the same issue, though none has yet been approved. Select Board member Sam Anderson, noting statewide phase-out legislation is also pending, said he was "strongly supportive of moving through with both" the town-property policy and the townwide petition. The board also voted 4-0 to open the warrant for a Special Town Meeting on October 14 and 15, accepting articles through August 11, with Planning Board Chair Rebecca Varner reporting that public hearings on MBTA Communities Act zoning compliance and a municipal-use zoning amendment, both prerequisites for a new fire station, opened the same evening. Liaison Priya Sondaram warned that construction cost escalation on the long-delayed fire station project is running roughly $4,000 per day, putting added pressure on the October and December meeting calendar.