Billerica Planning Board accepts subdivision withdrawal, grants landscape firm special permit

BILLERICA -- December 14, 2020, Billerica Planning Board voted 5-2 to accept withdrawal of a contested subdivision application and unanimously approved two other land-use permits at its December 14 meeting. The divided vote concerned 305 Concord Road, where the board had denied a B2 subdivision the previous month because the applicant lacked a required variance; Town Counsel advised that a withdrawal before the written denial was filed was legally available and would spare the town from defending the denial in court. Members Janet Morris and Blake Robertson voted no, with Morris warning the board that revisiting a closed hearing without notifying abutters "is not a precedent that we want to set" and Robertson adding that "the proponent effectively challenged us to vote this down, and that's exactly what we did." The board unanimously approved a B2 subdivision at 204 Andover Road for property owner Bob Murphy, subject to conditions including DPW-approved sewer tie-in and a recorded homeowners association, and unanimously granted a contractors yard special permit to Parterre Garden Services Inc. at 11 Republic Road, conditioned on a 10-foot cap on stored material height and a prohibition on on-site processing, with a January 2021 closing on the property pending.