Marlborough Urban Affairs Committee Advances Landscaper Permit, Defers Sassaville Way Zoning Vote

MARLBOROUGH — November 6, 2023 — Marlborough Urban Affairs Committee votes 5-0 on landscaper permit and stalls on 290-unit housing overlay. The five-member committee unanimously recommended approval Monday of a special permit for Somar Landscape Incorporated to operate a contractor's yard at 59 Airport Boulevard, Unit 16, in the Airport Industrial Park, patterning the decision on a 2021 permit for neighboring Unit 17. Attorney Brian Falk said the site plan review committee raised no objections. The committee then spent more than an hour on Order No. 23-108-941, a proposal by Trammel Crow Company to create a Sassaville Way Residential Zoning Overlay District on a 22.3-acre parcel near a city reservoir, with attorney Michael Flannery of Goulston and Storrs presenting revisions including a bump in affordable housing from 10 to 12 percent, a reduction in lot coverage from 50 to 45 percent, and a new cap on three-bedroom units. Multiple members said they cannot support the overlay without a mandatory special permit for any housing project, and Councilor Oram said she opposes the project outright based on watershed and environmental health concerns, adding that the city's own zoning code requires 15 percent affordable units. The committee took no vote, carrying the item to a November 15 session with a hard deadline of December 5 for full council action or the process restarts.