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Planning Board adopts revisions to Section 6.2 (Highway Business) with clarity edits
Summary
The Planning Board approved supplemental regulations for the Highway Business district (Section 6.2) after clarifying formula language (replace 'a' with 'area' or 'OS'), agreeing 'reduction to 30%' wording, and asking staff for a cover letter to explain how the regs relate to the bylaw.
The Westborough Planning Board approved revisions to Section 6.2 (Highway Business district development regulations) at its Jan. 7 meeting, agreeing on several clarifying edits to definitions, formulas and applicant guidance.
Board members flagged that a shorthand variable labeled 'a' in multiple formulas was confusing; members recommended spelling the term out as 'area' or standardizing on "open space (OS)" and changing repeated references accordingly. A member recommended rephrasing an example's language to read "reduction to 30%" to avoid the appearance of an arbitrary number, and the board agreed.
The board also discussed the role of a public benefit amenity in open-space calculations and requested a short cover note or packet front page from the planning staff to explain how the supplemental regulations relate to the existing Section 6.2 bylaw so applicants can interpret the examples. As one board member put it, the cover note would provide "context" so an applicant does not pick up the document and find the numbers arbitrary.
After these edits were described on the record, an unidentified board member moved that the Planning Board "approve the regulations for the highway for section 6.2...as with the modifications discussed at the meeting tonight." The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board then closed the public hearing for Section 6.2.
Staff was asked to incorporate the agreed editorial and definitional changes into the final document and to include an explanatory cover note in the packet provided to applicants. The transcript records the approval by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded.
