Billerica ZBA Grants Four Permits, Authorizes Affordable Housing Administrative Steps

BILLERICA -- May 21, 2025, Billerica's Zoning Board of Appeals granted four petitions and advanced an affordable housing project at its May 21 meeting. The board voted 5-0 on each item, approving a basement in-law apartment for Michelle Ellrich at 5 Carl Drive, sign variances for Chase Bank at 484 Boston Road and Five Below at 700 Boston Road, and a special permit allowing Brian Schofield and Andrew Froyo to add up to 50 indoor seats at their fast-order restaurant at 816 Boston Road, which has been operating for eight months. The evening's lengthiest deliberation involved a Shah family request to subdivide 30 Ernest Road into two 7,500-square-foot lots so that son Neil Shah, a decade-long Intel engineer with graduate degrees from Northeastern University who said he cannot break into the local market, could build a home next to his parents; the board approved the split 5-0, with a condition requiring a shared access easement to be recorded at the Registry of Deeds in perpetuity. The board also voted unanimously to authorize the chair to sign two administrative documents tied to a Craftsman Village affordable housing comprehensive permit, contingent on town counsel review, clearing the path toward construction of five deed-restricted four-bedroom homes priced at approximately $280,000, with 70 percent of the affordable units earmarked for Billerica residents and workers under a local-preference lottery.