Billerica Select Board Waives $22,063 in Sewer Fees for Wicked Wings Restaurant

Select Board Special Meeting · Meeting of July 27, 2026

Billerica Select Board votes 4-1 to waive $22,063 in sewer fees for Wicked Wings restaurant over staff objection. The special meeting vote on July 27 corrected a July 20 action in which only roughly $10,000 of a nearly $32,000 fee total had been waived due to imprecise motion language. The town's assistant town manager recommended denial, citing the sewer rules and regulations' lack of any waiver provision and warning that the decision could set a precedent affecting the $622,577.96 in sewer fees the town collected from other applicants in fiscal year 2026 alone.

Select Board Chair countered by invoking Policy 47.0, the town's commercial and industrial economic development policy, arguing the restaurant's expansion into a pre-existing vacant building is "clearly not new development." Select Board Member Daris O'Connor voted no. The board also unanimously entered executive session to review 51 years of executive session minutes dating to 1975, with members noting at least one additional meeting will be needed to complete the work.

In the full story:

• Background and stakes
• The question before the body
• Substantive content
• The deliberation
• Procedural steps and outcome
• Implications and what is next
• The complete report — 1,785 words

Source: the Select Board Special Meeting meeting of July 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.