Residents, planners clash over OLF‑8 design changes; board schedules public hearing after debate

Community members protesting proposed changes to the OLF‑8 master plan told the board the package was rewritten days before the planning board vote, lacked adequate traffic, water and infrastructure analyses, and conflicted with an earlier community agreement.

"The package in question was rewritten just 13 days before the planning board meeting... the developer's own design code... adds data centers up to 5 megawatts," said John Moore, urging the board to pull the items and send them back to planning for a fuller technical review. Teresa Blackwell and others catalogued missing studies and said planning staff did not provide sufficient analysis to inform a vote.

Planning staff and the applicant responded that technical backup addressing sewer, wetlands and stormwater was included in the record and that planning recommended approval. After lengthy debate about legal risk, timing and the need to hear the applicant, the board voted to schedule the items for the Aug. 6 transmittal public hearing so the arguments and any requested remand can be considered in a formal session.

Provenance: topicintro: SEG 3689, topfinish: SEG 5645.