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Planning board narrows MBTA overlay fix to two lines ahead of Feb. 9 hearings
Summary
The Planning Board agreed to a narrow bylaw amendment correcting two entries in the MBTA Communities Overlay District dimensional table — removing an "or" and percent signs and normalizing floor-area-ratio notation — and scheduled public hearings beginning Feb. 9.
The Town of Southborough Planning Board on Jan. 26 recommended limiting a correction to two cells in the MBTA Communities Overlay District (MCOD) dimensional table rather than replacing the entire table.
Staff told the board the MCOD table did not match the Town’s Residential B dimensional standards for a recent South Hill Road project and that Town Counsel advised the fix must come through a bylaw amendment at Town Meeting rather than as a scrivener’s correction. To avoid opening broader debate at the Annual Town Meeting, staff recommended amending only row d (remove the word “or”) and row e (remove percent symbols and keep decimal values) so the table’s wording and numeric notation match existing code.
The board discussed formatting and numeric clarity and agreed to keep the floor-area-ratio figures consistent with the residential code (e.g., 0.3 and 0.6) and to include the leading zero before decimals. Staff confirmed legal advertisements ran Jan. 26 and Feb. 2 and that the public hearings for these warrant articles will open on Feb. 9.
A resident asked whether the change would require a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting because it amends zoning-related language; board members said they would confirm the vote threshold with Town Counsel and report back. The board also expressed hope the narrowly scoped amendment could be placed on a consent agenda at Town Meeting if procedural rules allow.
The Planning Board did not take a formal vote on the amendment at the Jan. 26 meeting; the matter will return as a warrant article and be heard beginning Feb. 9.
