Boxborough Planning Board Unanimously Approves Burroughs Road Stonewall Waiver, Begins Bylaw Review Push

BOXBOROUGH — January 21, 2026 — Boxborough Planning Board approves stonewall waiver and builds a 20-item bylaw agenda for town meeting. The board voted 5-0 twice at its January 21 remote meeting to waive the public hearing and approve a stonewall application at 684 Burroughs Road, where owners Stephen and Lori Darling had closed a half-circle driveway and filled a stonewall gap before filing the required permit — a case Building Commissioner Ed Cataldo handled as enforcement. The board then spent the bulk of the hour cataloguing roughly 20 potential zoning and general bylaw changes, with Clerk Rich Guzzardi proposing Mass Ave zoning revisions and a Village Center Overlay, Chair Rebecca Verner calling for reduced parking counts and a single-use plastics bylaw, member Mark White raising a reordering of Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals proceedings, and member Cindy Markowitz flagging stonewall and scenic road bylaw enforcement gaps. Town Planner Alec Wade estimated the board needs to render recommendations by the last week of March to appear in the written Annual Town Meeting warrant and said he would schedule individual one-hour working sessions with board members before the February 2 meeting. Wade also reported that a correction to parcel numbers in the Campanelli decision's conservation restriction conditions — covering all 94-plus acres of protected land — was cleared by Special Land Use Counsel and ready for Chair Verner's signature, with a 20-day appeal period beginning January 22.