Westborough Planning Board approves revised procedural rules with wording changes

The Westborough Planning Board voted to approve a revised draft of its procedural rules and regulations after detailed, page-by-page edits at its Jan. 7 meeting. The board made changes intended to clarify the order of business, tighten application requirements and remove undefined terminology.

Chair Hazel Nurse opened the public hearing continuation and guided the board through edits suggested by members and staff. Nurse thanked Town Planner Jenny Gingrich and assistant planner Kristen Bellinger for preparing the draft: "A big thank you to Jenny for putting this all together for us," she said.

Members debated when to hold annual officer elections after town elections; the board agreed to allow flexibility by scheduling elections "at a meeting in a month following the election" so new members have time to settle in. The membership also clarified the order of business so that public hearings occur first and "other board business shall be taken up following such public hearings," and added that the board will allow "testimony or comments only" as appropriate.

On application procedures, the board discussed whether a pre-submission meeting with the director of planning should be "requested" or "required." One board participant urged making the meeting a requirement by adding it to the application checklist so an application would be considered incomplete without documentation of the meeting; staff agreed to add the meeting to the checklist for confirmation at intake. The board also narrowed language about post-approval oversight, replacing an undefined reference to an "inspection phase" with authority to require a "supplemental consultant review fee" as a condition of approval when necessary during construction.

Technical and stylistic edits were also made, including capitalization consistency for references to the "Zoning Bylaw" and cleanup of numbering and cross-references. After the discussion, an unidentified board member moved to approve the rules "with the changes discussed at the meeting tonight," the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board then moved to close the public hearing.

The board directed staff to incorporate the agreed edits into a clean copy and update the application form/checklist to reflect the pre-submission meeting requirement. No roll-call vote totals were recorded in the meeting transcript; the approval was recorded by voice vote. The board adjourned after routine administrative items.