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Planning Board reviews zoning-enforcement draft, flags statutory citations
Summary
The Town of Southborough Planning Board discussed a draft enforcement policy, coordination with the building commissioner, and a staff-maintained noncompliance spreadsheet; a member flagged mismatched Massachusetts General Laws citations for correction.
The Town of Southborough Planning Board spent significant time clarifying its role in zoning enforcement and reviewing a draft enforcement procedure staff circulated.
During opening comments, the chair said the board met with the building inspector and staff to determine “where the policy lies,” and Karina (planning staff) said the building commissioner and the town code are central to enforcement work. Karina told members staff will continue monthly coordination meetings with the building commissioner to resolve open items and refine procedures.
Board member Alan flagged what he called a citation mismatch in the draft: the document cites “174‑24B” for an enforcement escalation that, Alan said, appears to describe noncriminal disposition procedures rather than the formal enforcement request. Alan said he would email a short note pointing out the likely citation error so staff can correct the draft. “It looks like there was a reference saying the formal enforcement escalation is 17424B. But 17424B is actually about the noncriminal disposition,” he said.
Karina and other members described a parallel, staff-facing “noncompliance” spreadsheet Colleen has been populating to track complaints and standard conditions across projects. Karina said the spreadsheet is intended to move complaints from ad‑hoc “squeaky‑wheel” responses into a prioritized, auditable workflow. She said the spreadsheet and the enforcement draft are works in progress and that the July 8 draft in the shared Dropbox will be revised after further meetings with the building commissioner.
Members agreed on two near-term next steps: staff will (1) correct any statutory citations in the enforcement procedure, and (2) continue monthly meetings with the building commissioner and affected staff to align process language. The board asked staff to circulate an updated, redline-friendly Word copy for easier review at the next meeting.
The board did not take a formal vote on the enforcement draft; members requested more detailed edits and documentation before placing a final policy on an agenda for adoption.
