Carlisle Planning Board Votes to Amend Mixed-Use Bylaw Waiver Provision Before Town Meeting

CARLISLE — April 14, 2026 — Carlisle Planning Board votes unanimously to amend mixed-use zoning bylaw waiver provision before Town Meeting. The board voted 6-0 at its April 14 meeting to delete a sentence from section 4.2.3.7 of the proposed Article 34 mixed-use bylaw after Planning Director Elizabeth Hughes said the language inadvertently barred small mixed-use projects from requesting waivers of parking, open space, and height standards without triggering an affordable-housing requirement that the bylaw explicitly reserves for projects of 10 or more units. The fix, recommended by town counsel, leaves the 20 percent affordability rule intact for larger projects while restoring case-by-case discretion through the special permit process for smaller ones. Resident David Collis of 120 Sudbury Road told the board the economic feasibility analysis attached to the same article still contains errors — including a roughly 50 percent gap between condo price assumptions in the two scenarios being compared, despite nearly identical construction costs — and Hughes said she would relay the concerns to the consultant before Town Meeting. The board also heard a status report from DSC Group consultant Russell Burke, who said a first draft of revised subdivision rules and regulations is expected by late May or early June, somewhat behind the original schedule after departmental focus-group sessions took longer to organize than planned.