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Planning board to hold public hearing on MBTA Communities overlay after spreadsheet error prompts two alternatives
Summary
Boxborough planners will take two alternatives to an August 3 public hearing to fix a compliance calculation error in the town’s MBTA Communities overlay: a paper‑compliance change raising the bylaw maximum to 17 DU/acre or a map amendment adding 1178 Hill Road and keeping 15 DU/acre; board voted to schedule the hearing unanimously.
The Boxborough Planning Board voted July 6 to schedule a public hearing on Aug. 3 to consider revisions to the town’s MBTA Communities overlay district aimed at ensuring the district meets the state’s 15‑units‑per‑acre requirement.
Planner Alec told the board that a complex spreadsheet used to calculate the district’s net density broke during pre‑compliance testing and later miscalculated the unit density; the town currently calculates the district at roughly 12.1 units per acre. He presented two corrective approaches: Alternative 1 keeps the same mapped land but adjusts the bylaw’s maximum dwelling units to 17 units per acre (the spreadsheet then yields about 15.7 DU/acre), and Alternative 2 adds a small parcel (1178 Hill Road) into the district and retains a 15 DU/acre standard (yielding about 15.9 DU/acre when the parcel is included).
Alec said both approaches would get Boxborough over the 15‑unit threshold the state uses for MBTA Communities compliance and that staff had validated the calculations repeatedly. "Our total district density comes out to 12.1 units per acre," he said. "If I change the maximum dwelling units per acre to 17, it then spits out a DUAC of 15.7." He cautioned that including the parcel introduces small complications — e.g., a septic area that would not count — but the margin of compliance remains.
Board members debated the tradeoffs. Mark White said he favored the paper‑compliance option as a simple technical correction; Chris Dowdy preferred the map‑expansion approach or a slightly larger parcel inclusion to give the town more margin for error. Alec also reminded the board that the economic feasibility analysis recommends requiring 20% of any new units created in the district to be deed‑restricted as affordable: "For every five new units created, one new unit would go on your subsidized housing inventory," he said.
The board approved a motion to notice a public hearing for Aug. 3 at 7:10 p.m., with the public notice to reference revisions to Section 8.6 (MBTA Community Overlay District) and Appendix B (Boxborough zoning map) without naming specific parcels, giving staff flexibility during the hearing. Roll‑call votes recorded Dowdy, White, Kushner and Chair Guzzardi in favor (unanimous). Alec recommended continuing to validate the spreadsheet with the town’s consultant and offered to invite the owner of the 1178 Hill Road parcel to the August meeting for comment.
Next steps include staff finalizing two draft alternatives for the July 20 working session and posting the Aug. 3 hearing notice; the board will also ask its consultant to independently rebuild and verify the compliance calculations.
