Residents who had urged the Select and Planning boards to delay consideration of updated zoning for the town center will get their way—but only if they show up at the Sept. 27 Town Meeting to vote “yes” on a motion to skip the proposal.
The Planning Board voted unanimously on Monday that it would move, on the floor of Town Meeting, to “take no action” on the bylaw. Members agreed to bring it back to the spring 2026 Annual Town Meeting, after the fate of the General Store is likely to have been settled.
Opposition to the proposed zoning update materialized when the owner of the building that houses the General Store and the Harvard Press announced he would sell the property this fall. The impending sale sparked concern among residents that the expansion of uses allowed in the proposed town center district would make it too easy for a new owner to repurpose the building.
Members of the Planning Board appeared to understand—if not fully agree with—the concern. According to Planning Board Chair John McCormack, those urging a delay “conflate the Town Center Overlay District with a threat to the General Store.” Still, delaying the vote would “let people know we hear their concerns … whether or not we agree with them,” he said.
New member Paul Robertson acknowledged that tabling the bylaw wouldn’t prevent a new owner from pursuing a change of use now or in the future, though he said in the absence of the overlay district it would be a more difficult process. But, he added, “I don’t think it’s irrational” for residents to be uneasy about the current situation, adding: “We don’t want this to be a carrot to encourage someone to purchase [the building] who might not have been otherwise interested.”
Member Doug Thornton suggested the board take the delay as an opportunity to get more citizen input and explore the possibility of modifying the district to avoid dramatic changes of use. He questioned why more people hadn’t contacted the Planning Board—the board sponsoring the bylaw—with their concerns. Indeed, at the lightly attended Monday evening meeting, only one resident, Mike Ewing of Fairbank Street, showed up to offer an opinion. Ewing said the overlay district could “solve a number of problems for those of us who live with these small lots.” Despite his declared support for the store, delaying the vote, he said, was “not the right way to solve its unique challenge.”
The Planning Board’s Aug. 18 meeting yielded one request for a delay. In contrast, seven of the 92 attendees at an Aug. 25 Select Board meeting spoke in favor of postponing consideration of the bylaw.
The proposed bylaw was originally on the warrant for the May Town Meeting, which was continued to Sept. 27 with three articles left to consider, including the town center proposals of Articles 40 (district map) and 42 (bylaw text). The third article, a proposal for updated commercial zoning on Ayer Road, remains to be considered Sept. 27.
The Planning Board will host an in-person information session on both the town center and commercial zoning bylaws Thursday, Sept. 25, 6 p.m., at the library’s Volunteers Hall.
