Hubbardston Planning Board sends zoning use table amendment to Select Board

HUBBARDSTON -- April 30, 2026, Hubbardston Planning Board unanimously forwards a zoning use-table amendment to the Select Board for town meeting placement. The board closed a public hearing Thursday evening on the proposed rewrite of Article 4 of the town's zoning bylaw, which would convert a multi-page narrative list of permitted uses into a grid-format table with yes, no, and permit-type designations and explanatory footnotes, a reorganization the town planner said carries no substantive policy changes. Before voting, the board accepted a last-minute staff correction changing the table entry for accessory dwelling units on nonconforming lots in the commercial district from a flat prohibition to a site-plan-review-allowed designation, in line with Attorney General guidance that ADUs must be permitted by right in any district allowing single-family residential uses. The notice for the public hearing was published in the Gardner News on April 15 and April 22, satisfying the statutory 14-day requirement. All three votes, closing the hearing, forwarding the article, and adjourning, passed unanimously, with the session wrapping up at 6:45 p.m.