Board approves pilot open-space notification process and hears planner's report; chair announces she won't seek re-election

The Planning Board on Feb. 23 approved a pilot outreach approach to notify and educate subdivision abutters about open-space deeds and parcel information and heard a series of updates from planning staff.

Member Lisa Bracio proposed sending a GIS map, the deed, and an explanatory letter to subdivision abutters as a test for the Nathan Stone subdivision; she offered to coordinate the mailing and suggested starting with the nine-lot Nathan Stone subdivision. Corina agreed this outreach should be tracked in a spreadsheet for follow-up. The board also signed a contract with Lucas Environmental to continue updating the deed-research database using remaining funds (~$7,800) from a prior article.

In the planner's report, Corina said the Attorney General approved both the ADU Article 9 (with a deletion of mobile-home language) and a highway/major retail article previously submitted. She circulated a Feb. 12 compliance report for 4042 Central Street tied to a temporary certificate of occupancy and noted Atlantic Management (Costco) requested a pre-filing meeting for their site plan; staff will schedule department-head participation and invited a planning board member to attend.

Separately, Chair Mimi announced she will not seek re-election in May; she thanked residents and fellow board members for their service. Board members praised Mimi's long tenure and deep institutional knowledge and said she would be missed.

Next steps: staff to pilot the subdivision notification mailing for Nathan Stone, track responses, coordinate the pre-filing meeting for Costco, and continue deed-research contract work.