Planning board conditionally endorses ANR for 711 Baldwinville Road pending ZBA variance

The Town of Templeton planning board on Wednesday agreed to submit an ANR (Approval Not Required) plan for 711 Baldwinville Road for the estate of the late Richard Chartier, but asked that the plan not be released to the property owner until a zoning variance is granted and the appeal period has passed.

Attorney John Flick (Flick Law Group), representing the estate of Richard Chartier, told the board the town’s prior acquisition of a small corner of Chartier’s property created new boundaries and made an already nonconforming lot more nonconforming, which has prevented sale of the parcel. "If the board were inclined to approve the ANR in advance of that meeting, I would suggest that it be approved subject to the granting of a variance and not be released to the property owner to be the estate until such time as the variance is granted and the appeal period is passed," Flick said.

The request matters because, under Massachusetts law and local zoning rules referenced in the hearing, plans that would create or exacerbate an existing nonconformity require a variance from the zoning board of appeals (ZBA) before they can take effect. Flick said the applicants had also filed for a variance with the ZBA; a hearing date was described in the meeting as likely in mid‑July but not firmly set.

During brief discussion, board members reviewed the ANR checklist items — plan identification, zoning classification, monuments, building locations and easements — and noted that the physical change to the parcel had already occurred when the town performed road work. Planning board member Charlie (first name not given in the record) ran through the required checklist items aloud. A motion to submit and endorse the ANR plan subject to the ZBA variance and appeal period was made and voted on; the board moved to sign the plan with that condition and to hold ministerial documents until the variance is decided.

Board members and the applicants clarified that the ANR endorsement was intended to "fix[] a problem that was created" by the town’s prior road reconstruction and to enable the ZBA to consider the variance application with the planning board’s endorsement noted in the record. Flick also offered to hold related documents (the MILR/MILR paperwork referenced in the meeting) until the ZBA’s determination.

Next steps: the planning board submitted the ANR to the file with the stated condition; the variance remains pending before the Templeton ZBA. The board did not release the plan to the estate and said it would not sign off on property transfer documentation until the variance is granted and any appeal period has concluded.