Townsend Planning Board Continues Seaver Road Subdivision Hearing, Seeks Legal Opinion

Planning Board · Meeting of July 13, 2026

Townsend Planning Board continues contested Seaver Road subdivision hearing amid unresolved legal and boundary questions. The board voted 5-0 at its July 13 meeting to push the public hearing for Belvedere Capital LLC's proposed three-lot subdivision at 0 Seaver Road to July 27, and approved a separate 4-0-1 vote to seek a statutory extension from the applicant through August 10 under MGL Chapter 41 Sections 81-T and 81-U. Member Robert Therrien pressed for a legal opinion from town counsel on whether the board has authority to approve a subdivision on what may be an abandoned right-of-way — Seaver Road was discontinued by town meeting in 1973 — saying, "I need some legal confidence that we have that authority." A letter from abutter trustee Jolene Siegman, read into the full record, alleged the applicant's site plan misrepresents the driveway location of 40 Seaver Road to conceal an ongoing boundary dispute and that approval would be arbitrary and capricious given prior board rejections of similar proposals in 1989 and 2020.

The board also approved a $9,925.45 Hoyland Tanner peer review invoice from the applicant's revolving fund and voted 4-0-1 to approve a modification to stormwater management permit SM2022-02 for a solar array at 22 West Meadow Road.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,158 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of July 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.