Planning board grants special permit for 132-unit Lyman Street development with 25% affordable units

The Town of Westborough Planning Board voted July 16 to grant a special permit for a 132-unit residential development at 18 and 30 Lyman Street, subject to conditions read into the record by the planning director.

Planner Jenny Gingras summarized the draft decision, saying the project is limited to the proposed buildings and site improvements and will include a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units totaling 132 units. The board’s conditions require a 25% affordability component — 33 affordable-designated units — distributed proportionately among unit types and documented so they can be listed on the state’s Subsidized Housing Inventory, the planner said.

The decision also requires a construction schedule and a preconstruction meeting, submission of shop drawings and an as-built plan, updated fire-circulation plans approved by the fire department, stormwater and erosion-control checks, and landscaping per the approved plans. The applicant must construct a portion of the BWALT trail shown in the conceptual plan and secure any additional permissions from adjacent property owners; a publicly accessible pocket park shown on the plans must be completed prior to final certificate of occupancy. The DPW has waived certain moratorium restrictions for this application but will set specific terms in a separate agreement, and the waiver will void if the permit is not exercised within three years.

Mark Donahue, counsel for the applicant, told the board the team had submitted additional materials and an agreement in principle with DPW regarding sewer allocations and that the applicant found the planner’s revised conditions acceptable. "Those changes are acceptable, to the applicant," Donahue said.

A board member moved the motion "in accordance with MGL Chapter 40A section 9 and [the] Westborough zoning bylaw sections read into the record," and another seconded. Chair Hazel Nurse called for the vote; the board approved the special permit.

Next steps include execution of the DPW agreement on sewer allocation and the submission of required construction and permitting documents before building permits can be issued. The planning office will retain a copy of the decision on site during construction as required by the conditions read to the record.

The board closed the public hearing on the application before making its decision. The planning office indicated it will monitor compliance with the conditions, including an occupancy-linked requirement that no market-rate certificate of occupancy be issued until deed restrictions and subsidy agreements for the affordable units are in place.