By a 4–0 vote Monday evening, the Planning Board accepted a plan to divide the Capobianco property at 281 Still River Road into two lots of roughly five and 22 acres, the latter of which will be accessed via Willard Lane, a private road. This decision concludes a month of conflict over the plan.
At the board’s lightly attended May 21 meeting, members voted 2–1 to accept the plan, believing the matter settled until Town Counsel Mark Lanza revealed that a minimum of three “yea” votes from the five-member board would be needed to accept the plan. Both the owners, represented by engineer Bruce Ringwall, and the neighbors opposing the plan, led by Willard Lane resident Ted Maxant, used the time to gather additional evidence and challenge the other side’s arguments.
The opposition’s argument centered on whether Willard Lane is an acceptable road to provide access to a property. Willard is a private road that runs over public land and is maintained through funds collected and spent privately by its residents, an unusual situation unique to that road. Maxant argued that the road is so narrow and poorly maintained that adding traffic to it would pose a safety issue, a position corroborated by several other Willard Lane residents who recounted their experiences navigating the lane. Ringwall countered by equating its dimensions to those of other roads in town, such as Old Littleton Road and Old Meadow Lane, and arguing that the Planning Board had already set a precedent of not only approving new construction on similarly sized roads, but also on Willard Lane itself. Although board members, disturbed by tales of the poor condition of the road, briefly considered a new policy of barring all construction on the road until it could be improved, they quickly decided that doing so would cause too much disruption.
Maxant also argued that Willard Lane does not meet Harvard’s legal definition of a road for purposes of providing frontage to a property. Harvard’s bylaw allows private roads to provide frontage provided that there is a “defined responsibility” for maintaining the road.
Reluctant approval
Maxant and Ringwall disagreed as to whether Willard’s maintenance organization met these somewhat nebulous criteria. According to documents produced by both parties, paying into the road’s maintenance is a volunteer activity that just under two-thirds of the road’s residents actually undertake. While Lanza had previously ruled that Willard Lane’s organization was sufficient, Maxant argued that the town counsel had not been aware of all the facts at the time. An investigation of past emails led board members to conclude that Lanza had possessed sufficient evidence at the time of his earlier statement, so they agreed to consider Willard Lane a frontage-providing road.
Though generally reluctant, board members voted 4–0 to approve the project, with one abstention, meaning that the planned division will proceed. The new 22-acre lot is eligible for the construction of a single home without needing the approval of any boards, but additional approval processes would be required to further divide the property to allow for a higher density of development. The fate of the property remains to be seen, though throughout the process, Ringwallassured the board there were no existing plans for additional development.
