Boxborough Planning Board Unanimously Grants Beaver Brook Road Commercial Special Permit

BOXBOROUGH — January 12, 2026 — Boxborough approves amended special permit for Beaver Brook Road commercial campus. The Boxborough Planning Board voted 5-0 on January 12 to grant a special permit to Campanelli Trigate Sub, LLC, authorizing an updated master plan for The Park at Beaver Brook that covers five new buildings with a maximum building footprint of 446,000 square feet and optional mezzanine space of up to 221,500 square feet. The contested element of the evening was the development period: a 3-2 vote set the construction window at 17.5 years from the lapse of the decision's appeal period, placing the deadline at approximately July 2043 — a compromise between the 15 years preferred by Chair Rebecca Verner and Member Cindy Markowitz and the 20 years sought by the applicant. Special Land Use Counsel Adam Costa warned that absent such a fixed period, case law supports indefinite vesting of development rights once construction begins, citing a Bellingham precedent involving a 19-year gap between phases. The board also added a condition requiring all invasive species to be removed from Lot 100 — a parcel slated for conveyance to the town — by approximately June 30, 2029, and a general conformance condition tying the permit to all representations made during the multi-session public hearing.