Residents urge Boxborough to add buildable Hill Road parcels, call proposed MBTA fix 'paper compliance'

During the public hearing on Aug. 3, multiple residents told the planning board that the two options presented by staff should favor adding parcels that could yield new housing rather than a narrow technical correction. Denise Leonard, who identified herself by address, asked that a small front parcel adjacent to the MBTA overlay be included in any expansion: "I own, 1164 Hill Road," she said while discussing the map and requesting inclusion for the front parcel (owner-reported parcel numbers were discussed on the screen).

Rick Ogilvy (1172 Hill Road) pressed the board to add a larger, largely vacant parcel he said sits next to Meen Moore Apartments and is more likely to yield affordable housing. "It'd be a perfect place for affordable housing…All this is all for paper compliance. It doesn't mean you're gonna build anything," Ogilvy said, arguing the town should include land where new housing could be developed rather than covering existing high-density parcels with zoning. Abby Reap (205 Old Harvard Road) echoed that view and urged the board to "revisit the 11 78, and add 11 72" if possible, saying she was disappointed the proposed overlay did not include land that could realistically be built on.

Board members and staff repeatedly told speakers that the two alternatives carried different trade-offs: Alternative 1 is a narrower text change to fix a math/formula error discovered after Town Meeting, while Alternative 2 sought to add approximately 1.3 acres to the district to meet gross-density calculations with a lower written density. The board closed the public hearing and ultimately recommended the narrower fix, but members said public feedback would be captured and additional boundary changes could be pursued later with more outreach and study.