Billerica Planning Board Votes Unanimously to Advance Recodified Zoning Bylaw to Warrant

BILLERICA -- March 10, 2025, Billerica Planning Board votes unanimously to send recodified zoning bylaw to preliminary Town Meeting warrant. The board voted 7-0 Monday to advance the 136-page, 12-section draft bylaw, reorganized from an existing 150-page, 19-section document riddled with contradictions and formatting errors, after a presentation by Director of Planning and Economic Development Catherine Malgeiri and remarks from subcommittee veterans Blake Robertson and Edward Giroux. Robertson urged colleagues to spot-check sections before the April 14 public hearing and cautioned that prior amendment cycles had introduced new errors: "Are we at 100% today? Absolutely not. Are we close? Yes." Building Commissioner Mark Lumiere called the recodification long overdue, describing the current citation format as "five-dot-uppercase-C-dot-lowercase-C-dot-uppercase-Q-dot-two-dash-A." The board also received a preliminary presentation on the planned 21,400-square-foot Recreation Center at 121 Lexington Road, the former Vining School site, with the formal site plan special permit hearing expected to open in April.