Planning Board Meeting: November 19, 2025

Attendance

• Planning Board Members present in-person: John Mirick, Corey Burnham-Howard, Larry DeBlois, Scott Peoples and Alternate Members Ann O’Connor and Ryan O’Meara
• Planning Board Members present, remote:  Ian Catlow
• Planning Board Members absent:  none
• Other Participation, in person: Frank Carrier and Raphael Hernandez
• Other Participation, remote:  Steve and Dylan Kessler

Call to Order

At approximately 7:30 PM.

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 Chair reported that he had sent a copy of the 11/14/25 draft to Carlos Nieto with a covering email stating that if Mr. Nieto was comfortable with the revisions to the original draft, he did not need to attend the meeting.  The Hearing Panel (Ian Catlow had recused himself and Ann O’Connor had been appointed to the panel) reviewed and approved the 11/14/25 draft.

Motion:  To approve the Site Plan Review Decision

Motion:  Ann O’Connor; second:  Larry DeBlois

Vote:  5-0

The Hearing Panel signed the decision.  The Chair will file the signed decision with the Town Clerk.

Informal Discussion with Mikaila Turner-Clark for ADU at 175 Sterling Road

At her request to the Board’s administrative assistant, this matter will be moved to the December 3 meeting.

Further informal discussion with Dylan and Steve Kessler for ANR plan for 122 Calamint Hill Road North

The Kessler family has decided to subdivide to create two building lots, one with the existing house occupied by Steve Kessler and one for a new house to be built for Dylan Kessler.  They will have the frontage surveyed to confirm that each lot will have 225 feet of continuous frontage.  They are arranging for testing to determine the location for the septic system for the new house.  They expect to come back to the Board with an ANR plan for review and endorsement.

Informal Discussion with Collettes for home occupation at 183 Sterling Road

The Collettes did not appear.  This matter will be placed on a subsequent agenda if they request.

Continued Discussion on Possible Projects

The Board reviewed the list of possible topics and the initial inquiries on each topic.  John suggested that the current focus should be to get a sense of what other towns have done which may help the Board to decide what topics to pursue, rather than to start drafting proposed amendments.

Expanding Home Occupations.  Larry reported that most towns have similar by-laws for home occupations.  Some towns have more detailed regulations on signage and exterior storage.  Our signage by-law is probably sufficient, but a condition dealing with exterior storge would probably be an appropriate amendment.  Rather than trying to list all home occupations, we might consider allowing by special permit home occupations that did not adversely impact residential neighborhoods.

Earth Removal.  Our by-law is mostly focused on commercial earth removal.  For earth removal incidental to construction, we might consider more flexibility.

Battery Storage.  There are potentially significant fire and contamination concerns associated with large battery storage facilities, particularly in the event of fire. This is a “hot button” issue in Oakham.  Scott will approach CMRPC to determine if there are any recommendations for small towns.

East Princeton Village Overlay District.  East Princeton is a very walkable area which seems to invite a village overlay district approach, particularly with the closing of Townline Garage and the continuing vacancy of Mechanics Hall.  We need to solicit views of East Princeton residents.  Corey and Ryan volunteered to work on potential language for any amendment.

Scenic Roads.  Ann has reviewed provisions in other towns which deal with issues such as stonewalls and roadside vegetation.  It was the sense of the Board that preserving scenic roads was consistent with the Master Plan and should engender support at Town Meeting.  The approach could be to draft a scenic road by-law and then initially designate a limited number of specific roads or portions of roads.  In the future, additional roads could be designated.

Outdoor Lighting.  Corey has pulled together examples from other towns that are more specific than the “downward directed” language we use in our site plan decisions.  An issue will be whether to limit the by-law to new or replacement lighting, or to have a timetable to bring existing lighting into compliance.

Kennels.  It was the sense of the Board that a commercial boarding kennel is a business rather than an agricultural occupation.  Town residents can get a kennel license for their own dogs, and can breed, train, and sell their own dogs.  This may be an issue to address as a home occupation.

Business Zoning.  We need feedback from residents on whether to expand the areas in town that are zoned for business.  It was the sense of the Board that while there may be an appetite for more home occupations with suitable regulation, there may not be much interest in expanding the town’s current business zones.  John passed out a revised draft of a possible survey that covered business districts, housing, home occupations, and village overlay districts.

AI Data Centers.  Although it seems unlikely that Princeton would be a site for an AI data center, the impact on electrical and water usage would be immense.  Corey suggests that we may need to approach this issue by limiting the size of an AI facility, such as we did for medicinal marijuana.

Stormwater Runoff.  This is a concern based on steepness of a slope and the amount of vegetation removed.  Unless there is a requirement for site plan review, the Board does not get involved.  Holden may have some language that could be adapted for Princeton.  Ian and Scott will look into this.

Further Informal Discussion with Frank Carrier for an OSRD Project off of Main Street

Frank Carrier and his engineer/design consultant, Raphael Hernandez, presented a rough conceptual plan for a 19 residence OSRD project with one-acre lots on a loop road and a cul-de-sac, preserving 30% of the parcel as open space.  The by-law calls for preserving 50% of an OSRD parcel but allows the Board discretion to lower that amount to 30% of the parcel. The conventional subdivision was for 15 residences which means that an OSRD project would be limited to 16 residences, rather than the 19 residences shown on the rough conceptual plan.  The Board also pointed out that any cul-de-sac requires a turnaround for snowplows and emergency vehicles.  While wells and septic systems are shown on the rough conceptual plan, those locations are based only upon the minimum separation required by code.  There has not been any actual testing.  The Board pointed out that an OSRD project can have shared wells and septic systems.

It was the sense of the Board that this was a good location for an OSRD project, which would be virtually invisible from passersby on Main Street.  The next step is to do some testing for the location of septic systems, followed by restructuring the layout to show no more than 16 residences.

Public Comment

No one appeared.

Report from the Chair on Pending Matters

John reported that Town Counsel is planning to meet with the Board on December 3 in Executive Session to discuss the Bomba litigation.  The Board will meet at 6:30 PM and vote to go into Executive Session, and then to come out of Executive Session to resume the regular meeting.

CMRPC has completed the revision of the zoning map to show the MBTA High-Density Overlay District.  We are waiting for determination by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that Princeton is in compliance with the statute.

Review and Approve Minutes for November 6 meeting

Motion to approve minutes

Motion:  Corey Burnham-Howard; second Scott Peoples

Vote:  Unanimous

Next Meeting

December 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM.

Meeting Adjourned

At approximately 9:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John Mirick

Documents Reviewed

• 11/14/25 draft Special Permit for earth removal permit for public safety building
• Plot plans for 122 Calamint Hill Road North
• Chart of possible topics for current year
• 11/19/25 draft of zoning survey
• OSRD provisions in Section XIV of Zoning By-Laws
• Rough draft of Conceptual OSRD Plan
• Draft minutes for 11/6/25 meeting