Planning Board Approves Disability Services Site Plan at 352 Turnpike Road

SOUTHBOROUGH — March 9, 2026 — Southborough Planning Board unanimously approved a major site plan for a disability services provider at 352 Turnpike Road and advanced five zoning articles toward April 11 Town Meeting. The board voted to approve Disability Assistance and Vocational Education, Inc.'s change-of-use decision, dated March 5, 2026, and a companion lighting waiver tied explicitly to the facility's residential component, after attorney George Banan agreed to pare overnight lighting from his original request to seven fewer fixtures to reduce spillover near the adjacent Madison Place neighborhood. Chair Mimi Luttrell and the board also endorsed the February 25 draft of an ADU bylaw update — allowing accessory dwelling units up to 1,200 square feet by right with no special permit — for submission to the Town Meeting warrant, with ZBA Chair David Williams confirming the final language. A lengthy industrial park district hearing ended with the board favoring a single warrant article covering both expanded IP uses and data center special permit standards, despite Town Counsel's suggestion to split them; an additional Zoom hearing is planned for March 30 to satisfy noticing requirements for the 174-9 special permit section. Opening hearings for the 22 Turnpike Road golf range modification and a contentious compliance matter at 154 Turnpike Road — where a neighbor described paying $7,000 out of pocket for a fence after the commercial site's screening deteriorated — were both continued to March 23.