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Boxborough board moves to pursue updated business‑district design guidelines with student intern support
Summary
Members discussed expanding design review guidelines to cover business districts, staff scoped a roughly 200‑hour process and offered a pro bono intern from Trinity College to assist with visuals and public engagement; the board agreed to begin scheduling and community outreach.
At its June 8 meeting, the Boxborough Design Review Board discussed undertaking an update to its design review guidelines to better cover business districts after a previously proposed warrant article was pulled for lack of a completed guideline.
Staff member Alec Mosley described the proposed work as a staff‑driven process of roughly 200 hours that would include at least six public meetings and public engagement tools. Mosley said the board had explored regional grants and student project funding but those avenues were not successful; he said a Trinity College student with environmental science and architecture training has offered to work pro bono pending a background check to support visualization and community outreach.
Mosley said the intern and staff capacity would allow the board to assemble a visual preference survey and other graphics to inform a locally tailored guideline rather than adopting another town’s standards. He outlined three public engagement methods to present at the board’s next meeting and said the intern could begin work as early as the following week if the required CORI (background) check clears.
Board members expressed support for building on existing walkable town‑center work and for emphasizing the town’s rural and historic character in any new guidance. The board asked staff to circulate engagement options in the next packet, begin scheduling public sessions, and set up a calendar for summer meetings so volunteers and the intern can make progress while availability remains high.
Next steps: staff will circulate three public‑engagement approaches for the board to choose from at the next meeting, confirm the intern’s start date after CORI clearance, and schedule the public meetings and work sessions required to draft the updated guidelines.
