Hopkinton council pauses special-use framework, seeks performance-based standards after state rule change

Hopkinton — The Town Council opened a public hearing Dec. 16 on an amendment to the Hopkinton Code of Ordinances (Appendix A, section 5) intended to respond to a recent General Assembly change requiring municipalities to list specific and objective criteria for uses governed by special-use permits.

Ashley, appearing as the meeting’s presenter, told councilors the legislative change created a practical problem: "a special use permit is often used for a use that, in general, the community is supportive of, but sometimes can have circumstances that need mitigating conditions," and the new law "requires that you have to outline and list those specific and objective criteria for every use that would require that special use permit." She said many criteria are site-specific and that drafting exhaustive, objectively measurable criteria for every circumstance is "monumental" and in practice often impossible.

Because of those constraints, Ashley said many municipalities are moving away from relying on special-use permits and toward permitting uses with tailored performance standards. The council unanimously agreed that the planning board should take time to develop policy recommendations: which uses should remain special uses, what objective criteria are appropriate for those uses, and which uses should become permitted with performance standards.

Councilors gave the planning board a temporary pause on implementing the special-use table changes so staff and the board can draft and return with specific language and performance standards. A follow-up adoption date will be scheduled after the planning board’s recommendations are complete and after the required public-notice period.

The hearing was closed pending that follow-up work; no final ordinance adoption occurred at the Dec. 16 meeting.