Hubbardston Planning Board Wraps Sand Pit Overlay Feedback, Eyes Grant Funding

HUBBARDSTON — November 20, 2025 — Hubbardston Planning Board advances sand pit overlay zone feedback and flags state battery storage rules. At the November 20 hybrid meeting, Chair Kristofer Munroe, member Alan Carpenter, and remote member Francois Steiger — the only members present — concluded their comment session with consultant Niche on a proposed mixed-use overlay district for former gravel pit land north of Pitcherville Road along Route 68, with members agreeing on clustered open space residential development and opposing minimum-lot checkerboard layouts. Carpenter challenged the study area's boundaries, noting that if commercial development along Route 68 is a goal, "why the dog camp parcel but not Rietta Ranch?" The board also went on record opposing draft state regulation 225 CMR 29 on battery energy storage siting, citing an 11-day comment window, the inappropriate designation of town clerks as local contact points, and the absence of consideration for non-toxic alternatives such as iron-air batteries. The town has received several hundred thousand dollars in new planning grants to continue the overlay and downtown engineering work, with a consultant recommendation expected before the current contract expires in September.