Planning Board Meeting: November 6, 2025

Attendance

• Planning Board Members present in-person: John Mirick, Corey Burnham-Howard, Ian Catlow, Larry DeBlois, Scott Peoples and Alternate Member Ann O’Connor
• Planning Board Members present, remote: none

• Planning Board Members absent: Alternate Member Ryan O’Meara

• Other Participation, in person: Steve Kessler
• Other Participation, remote: Audrey Kessler and Carlos Nieto

Call to Order

At approximately 7:30 PM.  The Chair explained that the meeting was held on Thursday evening rather than Wednesday evening because of a delay in posting the agenda.

Review and Act on any ANR Plans

No ANR plans were presented for review.

Review and Approve Special Permit (Earth Removal) for Public Safety Building at 18 Boylston Avenue

The Board reviewed the 9/25/25 draft decision with Carlos Nieto and some written comments that Mr. Nieto had provided.  The discussion clarified that earth materials could be stockpiled with appropriate erosion control measures in the wellhead protection area if the stockpile is on top of a separation liner until the public water supply was established.  Simply drilling a well does not constitute “establishing the public water supply.”  On-site stockpiling would reduce the number of trips to remove earth materials to an off-site stockpile and then bring those earth materials back to the Site.

The Board agreed that the decision should be revised to clarify that some excavation will be needed for the retaining wall on the westerly side of the apparatus bay, and that some excavation will be needed next to Boylston Avenue for electric service and footings for signs.

The Board agreed to clarify that testing would be done for PFAS and other contamination, and that this work would be done in accordance with Mass DEP and US EPA requirements.

The Chair will revise the draft decision for further review at the November 19 meeting.

Review and Approve Site Plan Review Decision for 289 Sterling Road for Matt and Nicole Pelonzi

The Board reviewed the 10/27/25 draft site plan review decision for the addition of a covered deck on a legally existing non-conforming building.  There was a non-substantive clerical correction.  With that correction, the Board approved the draft decision.

Motion:  To approve the Site Plan Review Decision

Motion:  Corey Burnham-Howard; second:  Scott Peoples

Vote:   5-0

The Board signed the decision,  The Chair will file the signed decision with the Town Clerk.

Informal Discussion with Steve Kessler for ANR plan for 122 Calamint Hill Road North

Steve Kessler has approximately 110 acres on the westerly side of Calamint Hill North.  Approximately 74 acres of the back land are subject to a watershed preservation restriction.  The remaining land is in Ch 61B.  He presented several plot plans of the property.  He is considering an ANR plan to create a lot on which one of his children could build a house.  The house would share a common driveway with his house but be located further west than his house.  It is possible that another child might move to Princeton in the future and might consider also building a house on the family property.

The Board’s informal review indicated that an ANR plan would be possible, assuming a current survey verified that the property could be subdivided to create two lots which each had 225’ of continuous frontage.  There would not be enough frontage for three ANR lots.  To create a third lot, the Board suggested that he look at the provisions for an Open Space Residential Design subdivision (Section XIV of the Zoning By-Laws) and at the provisions for a Backlot Development (Section XIV of the Zoning By-Laws) and then come back for a further informal discussion before drawing up plans.

Informal Discussion with Collettes for home occupation at 183 Sterling Road

The Collettes asked the Chair to pass over this item.  It may be placed on a subsequent agenda.

Discussion of OSRD Provisions

The Board had an informal discussion of some of the provisions in Section XIV of the Zoning By-Laws for Open Space Residential Design (“OSRD”) projects in anticipation of receiving a conceptual OSRD plan from Frank Carrier for his land on Main Street, close to the Sterling line.

A challenge in any development in Princeton is siting septic systems and wells.  In OSRD projects, dwellings can share wells and septic systems.  There would have to be a use/maintenance agreement.  Without shared septic systems and wells, it could be difficult to have lots on less than an acre in size in an OSRD project.

The OSRD provisions allow the Board to be flexible on area and dimensional requirements but require a minimum setback of 100 feet from land adjacent to the OSRD project.  Setback of buildings within the OSRD project would probably involve consideration of public safety and applicable health and building codes as well as a developer’s determination of marketability.  A cluster development might be possible, probably with shared water and septic.

Assuming an OSRD special permit, a developer could sell individual lots, subject to the conditions in the OSRD special permit which would probably include location of buildings.  It was the sense of the Board that subsequent owners could combine approved lots to create a larger lot but probably could not otherwise reconfigure approved lots.

The Board noted that the OSRD by-law favors undeveloped land as open space.  If a developer created a playground or a tennis court, it was the sense of the Board that those areas would not count towards the open space requirement.

It was the sense of the Board that a road into an OSRD project would have to be built to public way standards and would have to be accepted by the Town as a public way.  Frontage on the public way constructed for an OSRD project could be reduced to less than 225 feet.

To qualify for the additional building lot available in an OSRD project, a developer will need to show the maximum number of lots that could be built with a “conventional” subdivision plan.  This would be a function of actual topography, wetlands, and siting of septic systems rather than simply a theoretical layout.  Septic testing for a “conventional” subdivision plan would be information that could be used for an OSRD plan.

The Board did not have a specific OSRD plan to consider and did not take any formal votes.

Continue Discussion on Possible Projects

John passed out a very rough draft of a survey for comments and suggestions.  Corey suggested that using a sliding scale of 1 to 5 (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) in the survey rather than seeking yes/no responses.  That will go into the next draft.  Members were encouraged to send John additional suggestions for the next draft.

Public Comment

No one appeared.

Report from the Chair on Pending Matters

John reported that Town Counsel had attended a case management conference on the Bomba case.  Town Counsel will meet with the Board in executive session at the first meeting in December (12/3) to discuss the case.

The Attorney General’s Office  has approved the MBTA High-Density Overlay District proposed by the Board and adopted at Town Meeting last May.  On behalf of Princeton, CMRPC is requesting determination by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that Princeton is in compliance with the statute.  CMRPC is also in the process of revising the zoning map to show the overlay district.

Mikaila Turner-Clark, 175 Sterling Road, has asked to meet with the Board for an informal discussion about a possible ADU.  She will be on the November 19 agenda.

Review and Approve Minutes for October 15 meeting

Motion to approve minutes

Motion:  Larry DeBlois; second Scott Peoples

Vote:  Unanimous

Next Meeting

November 19, 2025 at 7:30 PM.

Meeting Adjourned

At approximately 9:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John Mirick

Documents Reviewed

• Draft Special Permit for earth removal permit for public safety building
• Comments from Carlos Nieto on draft special permit
• Draft Site Plan Review Decision for 289 Sterling Road
• Plot plans for 122 Calamint Hill Road North
• OSRD provisions in Section XIV of Zoning By-Laws
• Rough draft of survey
• Draft minutes for 10/15/25 meeting