Southborough advisory committee approves amended letter backing zoning change for retail project, removes Costco reference

The Town of Southborough Advisory Committee voted to approve an amended advisory letter supporting a zoning article that would allow a large retail development to advance to site-plan review, and it removed an explicit reference to Costco from the draft letter.

The vote took place during the committee’s virtual meeting; the motion to approve the amended letter and grant Marcy authority to make final copy edits passed by roll call with all voting committee members recorded as "aye." The committee’s discussion focused on traffic patterns, wastewater capacity, the special-permit process, and the potential tax revenue that commercial development could bring to the town.

The committee said the zoning change under consideration would allow future site plans for commercial uses to move forward regardless of which tenant ultimately occupies the property. "So, I you know, the gist for article 1 ... the zoning change would allow site plan to move forward in a general sense regardless of who might come there," said Andrew (committee member), who led drafting and calculations for the letter. Committee members agreed to…