Concord Planning Board Votes to Fix Flawed Mixed-Use Waiver Provision Before Town Meeting

CONCORD — April 14, 2026 — Concord Planning Board unanimously deleted a disputed waiver provision from a mixed-use zoning bylaw article headed to Annual Town Meeting. At its April 14 hybrid meeting, the board accepted Town Counsel's advice that a sentence in section 4.2.3.7 of the proposed Article 34 — requiring more than 20 percent affordable units to qualify for special permit waivers regardless of project size — conflicted with the bylaw's own threshold, which mandates affordability only for projects of 10 or more units. Planning Director Elizabeth Hughes said the existing rules have produced only about two mixed-use units in the past decade. Before the vote, Concord resident David Collis, of 120 Sudbury Road, told the board the article's economic feasibility analysis contained arithmetic errors and that one scenario assumed sales prices roughly 50 percent higher under the new zoning than under existing rules despite nearly identical construction costs — "there's no way you can work from the assumptions to how they arrive at any of the numbers," Collis said. Hughes said she would convey the critique to the consultant; the board can reconvene on the Town Meeting floor before any vote.