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Planning board begins rewording subdivision bylaws on curbing, retreat lots and hammerheads; announces new tree warden
Summary
Board members opened a multi-part discussion to revise subdivision regulations covering granite curbing, retreat-lot spacing, and hammerhead turnarounds for private roads; they also announced that Lauren Steele will serve as the town's tree warden and will receive certification training.
The Town of Uxbridge Planning Board initiated work to revise several subdivision-regulation provisions, addressing granite curbing requirements, the spacing and definition of retreat lots, and the dimensions of hammerhead turnarounds on private roads.
Speaker 1 urged the board to "relook" at the granite-curbing requirement in the subdivision bylaw and proposed giving the planning board discretion to require different curbing types depending on context. Some members warned that excessive discretion could lead to inconsistent decisions. Speaker 1 also recommended clarifying the retreat-lot rule so that the distance between retreat lots must equal the zoning frontage requirement (for example, 300 feet in agricultural areas) to prevent developers from using narrow strip lots to create contiguous retreat lots.
On private roads, the board discussed allowing hammerhead turnarounds for very small subdivisions but making the hammerhead larger to meet emergency-vehicle turning needs; speakers noted snowplowing and winter maintenance problems on tight hammerheads. Several members suggested drafting precise dimensional language rather than leaving matters solely to discretion. Speaker 3 urged the board to tie waivers or alternatives to affordable-housing yields in some cases, though others cautioned that developers may not pass savings on to buyers.
Separately, Speaker 1 announced that "Lauren Steele is now our tree warden." Speaker 3 said the town will pay for certification training and encouraged residents to contact the tree warden for property-tree matters.
Board members agreed to draft proposed wording for the bylaw changes and aim to return with edits in a future meeting; they noted subdivision-regulation changes do not require town meeting but rear-lot zoning changes would.
