Marlborough Urban Affairs Committee Advances Sassaville Way Overlay, Eyes December 5 Vote

MARLBOROUGH — November 15, 2023 — Marlborough Urban Affairs Committee advances 286-unit Sassaville Way residential overlay after marathon line-by-line review. The committee spent more than two hours on November 15 dissecting the proposed Sassaville Way Residential Overlay district amendment, which would allow Trammell Crow Company to build up to 286 apartments and a small commercial space on a 23.3-acre limited industrial parcel, continuing the matter to a November 30 session before a potential December 5 City Council floor vote. Members voted to strip a permitted public gym use from the commercial language after Councillor Navin argued the city "deserves as much certainty as we can" on getting a restaurant rather than a fitness club, and reached consensus to shift site plan approval authority from the City Council to the Site Plan Review Committee while the council retains special permit authority. A motion to tie the overlay's affordable housing requirement to the citywide section 650-26 standard — rather than fix it at 12 percent — failed on a roughly 2-to-majority vote, leaving the percentage unresolved. The Planning Board's 7-0 neutral recommendation, read into the record by the chair, found the residential proposal less damaging than a commercial alternative but flagged unresolved concerns about building heights near Blazewood Avenue and potential stormwater impacts on Fort Meadow Reservoir.