Southborough planning board keeps public hearing open on Route 9 zoning amendment after debate over overlay, parcel limits

Southborough’s Planning Board on Sept. 15 continued public hearings on a proposed zoning text amendment to allow a large single‑tenant “highway major retail” use on Route 9, after members debated whether the change should be an overlay district, limited to specific parcels, or handled by a targeted text amendment and asked for clearer map, notice and process safeguards.

The amendment before the board would permit a single large retail user on a targeted set of lots in the town’s Industrial Park (IP) district subject to criteria including a minimum combined lot size and limits on gross floor area. Proponents said the change is intended to allow a national retailer the proponent is negotiating with to consider the site; Bob Buckley, attorney for the proponent, said, “That user, by the way, is Costco.”

The issue quickly split the board along procedural and substantive lines. Mimi Houlihan, chair of the Southborough Planning Board, said she supports developing the land but objected to drafting bylaw language produced by an outside law firm without what she called the board’s customary public vetting: “I am in favor of developing this land. I welcome the prospect of new tax revenue and greater convenience for our residents. But what I cannot support is a process where an outside law firm … draft zoning bylaw…